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Organization and Evaluation Our staff can help organize your materials, offer suggestions for further research, and assist in chart creation. areas of expertise Geographic United States • Canada • British Isles • Europe • Asia “Thank you so much — the material you sent provides exactly the connection Specialties for a second great grandmother who 16th–20th Century • Ethnic and Immigration • Military I was looking for. One by one, I’m Historical Perspective • Artifact Provenance • Lineage Verification • Native Cultures identifying the families of all the unidentified women in the family!” — Barbara R., Northampton, Mass. “Incredible work, and much deeper get started information than we were expecting . . . call 617-226-1233 mail NEHGS Research Services We are eagerly awaiting the second email [email protected] 99–101 Newbury Street installment!” website www.AmericanAncestors.org Boston, MA 02116 — Michael F., Potomac, Md.

Americancestorsan New England, New York, and Beyond Spring 2012 • Vol. 13, No. 2

UP FRONT A Special Announcement �� 5 In This Issue �� 8 New England Historic Letters & Feedback �� 9 Genealogical Society www.AmericanAncestors.org Announcements �� 10 A National Center for Family & Local History 2012 Summer Dinner • Free Fun Friday • African-American Established 1845 History and Genealogy Day • Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research, 5th edition • NEHGS hosts Italian partner- The New England Historic Genealogical Society ship • ASG Scholar Award • Junior League of Boston at collects, preserves, and interprets materials to NEHGS • New York Family History Day • The Complete document and make accessible the histories of Great Migration Newsletter, Volumes 1–20 • The Winthrop families in America. Fleet • Guide to Published Genealogies in the Library of the New American Ancestors England Historic Genealogical Society • Duck “ConDUCKtors” [email protected] Breakfast and Tour • New searchable databases • Obituaries Managing Editor Education Programs & Tours �� 15 Lynn Betlock Behind the Scenes Tour of “Old Ironsides” • Come Home Editor and Creative Director to New England • Publishing Your Family History • Fall Carolyn Sheppard Oakley Weekend Research Getaway • Albany Research Tour • Salt Associate Editor Lake City Research Tour • Boston Educational Programs Jean Powers The Online Genealogist �� 17 Assistant Editors The Online Genealogist Answers Your Questions Gary Boyd Roberts David Allen Lambert Robert Shaw Genetics Editor FEATURES Christopher Challender Child Advertising “Captivity with ye Barbarous Turks”: Jean Powers Seventeenth-Century New Englanders Held Hostage . . . 18 Contributing Editors Beth A. Bower Robert Charles Anderson, FASG David C. Dearborn, FASG From Family Myth to Historical Account: Henry B. Hoff, CG, FASG The McMillan Incident in 1814 Detroit ...... 25 Columnists Patricia Dingwall Thompson David Allen Lambert The Path to Edward Bird: Timothy G. X. Salls Robert Shaw A Story of Identity, Assimilation, and Discovery . . . . . 28 Editors Emeriti Michael F. Dwyer D. Brenton Simons Weighing the Evidence ...... 33 Scott C. Steward Henry B. Hoff Proofreaders Valerie Beaudrault • Linda Rupnow McGuire Was Susanna (Boylston) Adams Illiterate? ...... 35 Ginevra Morse • Penny Stratton Harry Faulkner Indexer Julie Helen Otto Establishing Kinship with NEHGS Staff Directory Family Reunion Announcements ...... 38 Patricia Bravender Administration D. Brenton Simons, President and Chief Executive Officer Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Abstracts, 1706–1863: Thomas R. Wilcox, Jr., Vice President and COO Kelly McCoulf, Manager of Administration New Databases on AmericanAncestors.org ...... 42 Development Sean Furniss Edward G. MacMahon, Director of Development Ralph J. Crandall, Executive Director Emeritus COLUMNS Anika Ebanks, Development Assistant Steven L. Solomon, Manager of Gift Planning Genetics & Genealogy �� 46 Robin Wolfe, Development Associate Chasing Harrimans through Y-DNA Education and Programs Leah Walczak, Director of Education and Programs F. Stephen Gauss Finance Jeremy Bento, Controller Manuscripts at NEHGS �� 48 Jeff Carlisle, Accounting Assistant Serving our Members: Michael Forbes, Accountant Manuscript Reference Services at NEHGS Michelle Major, HR/Accounts Receivable Coordinator Judith Lucey Information Technology Steven Shilcusky, Director of Information Technology Diaries at NEHGS �� 50 Library Marie E. Daly, Director of the Library An Excerpt from “Inklings of Belknap Street Sabbath Lynne Burke, Director of Library Technical Services School, Vol. 1,” by Josiah Freeman Bumstead, 1834 David C. Dearborn, FASG, Genealogist Judith Lucey, Archivist Robert Shaw Jean Maguire, Technical Services Librarian Focus on New York �� 54 Rhonda R. McClure, Senior Researcher Deborah Rossi, Conservation Technician Appreciating the New York State Census Timothy G. X. Salls, Manager of Manuscript Collections Henry B. Hoff Robert Shaw, Archives Assistant/Assistant Editor Olga Tugarina, Technical Services Assistant FAMILY FOCUS Maintenance Michael McIntyre, Building and Maintenance Assistant Genealogies in Progress, Genealogies Recently Published, Marketing Other Books & CDs Recently Published, Family Associations, Thomas J. Champoux, Director of Marketing Alessandra Magno, Marketing Assistant DNA Studies in Progress ...... 56 Member Services James Viall, Manager of Member Services About NEHGS Valerie Beaudrault, Visitor Services Representative Hope Cole, Member Services Representative Everything you need to contact or visit NEHGS . . . . . 64 Taylor Gray, Member Services Representative Jade Luongo, Visitor Services Coordinator On the cover: Andries van Eertvelt, “An Algerine Ship off a Barbary Publications Port.” 17th century. ©National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Scott C. Steward, Director of Publications London, UK. Lynn Betlock, Managing Editor, Periodicals Christopher C. Child, Genealogist of the Newbury Street Press Henry B. Hoff, CG, FASG, Editor of the Register Ginevra Morse, Assistant Editor Carolyn Sheppard Oakley, Editor and Creative Director Julie Helen Otto, Genealogist Rick Park, Book Store Coordinator Jean Powers, Associate Editor Penny Stratton, Managing Editor, Books Research Services Suzanne M. Stewart, Director of Research Services Jason Amos, Researcher Sally Benny, Researcher Christopher Carter, Researcher Mary Chen, Research Services Assistant Eileen Curley, Researcher Kyle Hurst, Researcher Natyra Pancsofar, Researcher Volunteers Helen Herzer, Volunteer Coordinator Website Development This publication is also funded in part Ryan J. Woods, Director of Internet Technology by the Francis G. and Ruth (Wellington) David Allen Lambert, Online Genealogist John Phlo, Digitization Assistant and Facilities Coordinator Shaw Memorial Fund. Ellie Spinney, Website Administrator Samuel P. Sturgis, III, Digital Collections Administrator Board of Trustees

Chairman Treasurer David H. Burnham William Griffeth Vice Chairman Secretary Carolyn A. Lynch Harold Hunter Leach, Jr., JD Class of 2015 Judith Waite Freeman Bonnie A. Reilly Donald R. Friary, PhD Jonathan Buck Treat David Watson Kruger Christopher M. White Class of 2014 Elizabeth Goddard, JD, PhD Kristin Servison Jo Anne Crowley Makely Kathleen A. Van Demark, MD Frank C. Ripley, PhD Morrison DeS. Webb, JD Class of 2013 William M. Crozier, Jr. Nancy S. Maulsby Joseph Swan Junkin Peter M. Small Virginia Whitman Koster Peter C. Steingraber

Councilors

Class of 2015 Bruce R. Bartlett Richard F. Larkin Stephen H. Case Robert Russell Perry Jane M. Conlan Linda A. Pescosolido John M. Fleming Jennifer Francis Piña Thomas F. Gede, JD M. David Sherrill Patricia Sezna Haggerty Susan P. Sloan Deborah C. Hale Diana M. Smith Robert F. Hendrickson Jason H. Stevens, MD John F. Keane Delinda B. Trowbridge Andrew P. Langlois Jay L. Verkler Class of 2014 Give the Gift of Family Richard H. Benson Thomas Bailey Hagen Helen H. Berkeley Virginia M. Hamister James Rollinson Boulden Edward M. Hawley NEHGS is excited to offer a research Ann N. Brown, CG Kate Welton Kuzmich Stephen C. Bultema John C. MacKeen bundle for beginning genealogists. The Frances M.P. Burnham Carol R. Mc Gee Thomas R. Crowley Hon. Christine L. Miniman, JD Family Discovery Package makes a great Barbara L. de Mare, JD Jonathan W. Montgomery Robert E. Dempster George Marshall Moriarty, JD gift for a loved one, or even for yourself. Frank J. Doherty Stanley E. Pratt David Hackett Fischer, PhD Warren Brinson Weeks, Jr. This special $99 offer includes: Priscilla C. Greenlees Cleaver Layton White Class of 2013 • 1.5 hours of research conducted by Judith Avery John L. Loeb, Jr. NEHGS experts Kenyatta D. Berry, JD J. Phillip London, DBA Herbert J. Boothroyd William R. Marsh, MD • One-year subscription to David A. Bruce Stephen J. McCarthy James E. Carbine, JD Martha S. Mugar American Ancestors magazine Henry Louis Gates, Jr., PhD Maralen T. O’Neil Arthur M. Geoffrion, PhD Joyce S. Pendery, CG • RootsMagic genealogy software Sarah Gunderson George Putnam Margaret E. Gustafson, MD Meriwether C. Schmid • Two day passes to the NEHGS library Judith Huber Halseth, EdD Eric B. Schultz in Boston Beverly Haughton Ellen C.L. Simmons Gregg W. Hawes, JD Marjorie P. Snelling Marian S. Henry, PhD Helen Schatvet Ullmann, FASG “You provided our family with a tremendous asset — Robert A. Jones preservation of our history. . . . Thanks for the valuable Trustees Emeriti service you provide.” Rodney Armstrong William M. Fowler, Jr., PhD Ruth Chauncey Bishop Kenneth Haughton John G.L. Cabot James T. Larkin Order online at Abbott Lowell Cummings, PhD John A. Moore, JD Joan Ferris Curran Alvy Ray Smith, PhD www.AmericanAncestors.org/fdp Allis Ferguson Edelman Robert Croll Stevens Dorothy Brewer Erikson John Lowell Thorndike or call 617-226-1233 American Ancestors: New England, New York, and Beyond, incorporating New England Ancestors, Copyright © 2012 (ISSN 2154–6533), is published in winter, spring, summer, and fall issues, by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, 99–101 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116-3007; tel. 617-536-5740; email magazine@ nehgs.org. All rights reserved. All editorial content of this magazine is archived for member access at www.AmericanAncestors.org. No part of this periodical may be reproduced without the permission of American Ancestors. The periodical’s name and logo and various titles and headings herein are trademarks of the New England His- toric Genealogical Society, a nonprofit corporation qualified under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Postmaster: send address changes to Member Services, NEHGS, 99–101 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116-3007. a publishing imprint of NEHGS American Ancestors invites the submission of articles. Submis- sions should be directed to American Ancestors, 99–101 New- bury Street, Boston, MA 02116, or to [email protected]. specializing in compiled genealogies that Opinions and statements expressed herein are attributable solely to advance the Society’s mission to collect, preserve, individual authors and are not endorsed by American Ancestors and interpret materials to document and make or the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS). Likewise, advertisement by outside vendors or services in American accessible the histories of families in America. Ancestors does not imply endorsement by NEHGS. For more than a decade, Newbury Street Press New England Historic (NSP) has published family histories of note- Genealogical Society worthy contribution to the genealogical canon. Our expert staff works with authors to publish NOTICE books of enduring interest to families, genealo- The name and seal of the New England Historic Genealogical Society are trademarks belonging to the New England gists, and historians. Historic Genealogical Society and may not be used without the express permission of the Society’s Board of Trustees. If you have been compiling your family’s genealogy and are thinking about having it published, please consider Newbury Street Press.

Connect with your Great Migration Ancestors . . . The Great Migration Study Project’s goal is to compile comprehensive genealogical and biographical accounts of every person who settled in New England between 1620 and 1643. Between these years about twenty thousand To learn how to submit a manuscript proposal, English men, women, and children crossed the inquire about funding for NSP books, or obtain Atlantic to settle New England. general information about NEHGS publications, contact Scott Steward, Director of Publications • The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1633; three volumes ([email protected]; 617-226-1208). • The Great Migration: Immigrants to New Tax-deductible donations to NEHGS help support England, 1634–35; seven volumes this important publishing program. • The Great Migration Newsletter, which Newbury Street Press complements the sketches by focusing on early New England life and records; New England Historic Genealogical Society available in print or online 99-101 Newbury Street Boston, MA 02116-3007 For more information www.AmericanAncestors.org/newbury-street-press visit www.GreatMigration.org a special announcement Connecting Families. Advancing History. A National Campaign for the New England Historic Genealogical Society

Campaign Leadership Eric B. Schultz Making Connections Campaign Chair and Chairman of the Board This spring has been a time of great activity for NEHGS, both here in Boston and elsewhere, and I take this opportunity to share some highlights with you. Judith Avery John G. L. Cabot We are pleased to be involved in the PBS television series Finding Your Roots with NEHGS Susan P. Sloan Councilor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. I had the honor of attending the premiere in New York Campaign Vice Chairs City on March 19, and am excited that this powerful and superbly produced series will and Councilors advance the work we all do in preserving American family history. I want to extend hearty D. Brenton Simons President and CEO congratulations and special thanks to Professor Gates for developing this important program and including NEHGS so prominently in its production. Please note that Professor Gates Honorary Campaign Committee hosts each episode directly from the Society’s Treat Rotunda at our headquarters in Boston. Rodney Armstrong I urge you to watch the series and tell your friends and family about it as well. Ralph J. Crandall Other collaborations are also flourishing at NEHGS. The Society’s third Family History William M. Crozier, Jr. Day in partnership with Ancestry.com, held in Tarrytown, New York, on March 17, was a William M. Fowler, Jr. David W. Kruger smashing success. More than 800 registrants were able to see thirty-five of our staff in action: Carolyn A. Lynch presenting lectures, conducting consultations, and selling books and memberships. We and George Putnam our Ancestry.com partners sent the participants home enthused about family history and John W. Sears the wiser for their attendance. Kristin Servison Matthew R. * NEHGS’s programs continue to be popular; a number sold out quickly (the TIARA Irish and Ellen C. L. Simmons Genealogy Seminar, Albany Research Tour, Belfast Research Tour, and the Great Migration Alvy Ray Smith Tour to England), with only a few spots remaining for the Come Home programs and the William W. Treat * Salt Lake City Research Tour. Christopher M. White In 2011, the Society’s NEHGS and Newbury Street Press imprints published a record nine- Campaign Steering Committee teen books, and this year is also off to a strong start. We brought out the much-anticipated David A. Bruce fifth edition of the Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research, as well as Guide to Thomas F. Gede Published Genealogies in the Library of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (which Joseph Swan Junkin complements the Guide to Manuscripts in the R. Stanton Avery Special Collections of the New Harold Hunter Leach, Jr. England Historic Genealogical Society) and a new, expanded edition of Martin E. Hollick’s John C. MacKeen Nancy Maulsby best-selling New Englanders in the 1600s. Jonathan W. Montgomery AmericanAncestors.org, the flagship website of the Society, has seen unprecedented usage over Bonnie Reilly the last year, reaching, at times, one million visitors per month. Our aggressive digitization M. David Sherrill John L. Thorndike plans produced fifty-two new databases during the same period, including Connecticut Vital Delinda B. Trowbridge Records to 1870 (The Barbour Collection); The Mayflower Descendant, The Pennsylvania Kathleen A. Van Demark Genealogical Magazine, and The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record; and New York: W. Brinson Weeks, Jr. Albany County Deeds, 1630–1894. We have recently concluded digitization projects for Staff Committee The Virginia Genealogist and New Netherland Connections. The Society’s online efforts were Helen R. Herzer recognized last fall when AmericanAncestors.org was named to a list of the 101 Best Websites Judith M. Lucey for 2011 by Family Tree Magazine and was first in the subcategory of best sites for U.S. Edward G. MacMahon Jean E. Maguire Resources. Steven L. Solomon In the coming months we look forward to new opportunities to connect with you — in Thomas R. Wilcox, Jr. person, through our publications, and online — to facilitate your family history research. Ryan J. Woods William R. Hausman, D. Brenton Simons Consultant President and CEO * Deceased Spring 2012 American Ancestors 5 Connecting Families. Advancing History. A National Campaign for the New England Historic Genealogical Society

Ensuring the Past’s Future Today’s average American will, in 200 years, have 668 descendants. The year will be 2212, and the odds are that many of your descendants will be researching you and your $50,000,000 ancestors. Where will they look for the research and family papers you compiled? Many options exist for preserving your research, papers, and other memorabilia. The norm, unfortunately, is that no plans are made to safeguard such invaluable resources. Over the past few centuries, your ancestors likely had, at one time, countless letters, deeds, certificates, photographs, and diaries. How many of these documents do you have $37,377,703 in your collection? One percent? Two percent? Most likely the vast majority of these materials were lost or destroyed. All family historians face important decisions about what to do with their life’s work. Does the collection go to one person or many? What will happen to it in succeeding generations? No one knows for certain. We do know that the average American moves every five years — and often purges some belongings each time. We also know that natural disasters, fire, theft, and other accidents can cause damage and destruction. That leaves an enormous amount of uncertainty about the future of what is incredibly important to you — and to us. Since 1845, NEHGS has been collecting, preserving, and interpreting materials to document and make accessible the histories of families in America. With our extensive, climate- controlled archive in Boston, we are uniquely positioned to protect your research and family papers for the genealogists of the future — including your 668 descendants in 2212. The foundation of NEHGS was laid by previous generations of family historians who had the foresight to donate their collections and provide the necessary endowed funds to ensure the past’s future. The legacies that we all work so hard to create and pass along will be available only in the $0 future if we ensure preservation of our material now. For more information on donating your collection and endowing its future, please contact Ted MacMahon, Director of Development, at [email protected] or 617- 226-1218, or Steven Solomon, Manager of Gift Planning, at [email protected] or 617-226-1238. Campaign Commitments as of March 31, 2012

6 American Ancestors Spring 2012 Connecting Families. Advancing History. A National Campaign for the New England Historic Genealogical Society

The Importance of Archival Preservation Attorneys Diantha C. (D.D.) and George C. Harrington of Framingham, Massachusetts, are longtime members of NEHGS with broad genealogical interests. D.D.’s father researched her family and documented twenty-seven Mayflower-connected ancestors, including Robert Cushman, who helped organize the 1620 Mayflower and Speedwell voyages, and Mary Allerton, the last surviving Mayflower passenger, who died in 1699 at age eighty-two. D.D.’s father, William Allerton Cushman (from a Providence, Rhode Island family), instilled in her a passion for genealogy through his love of family, history, and books. Mr. Cushman traveled extensively, visiting cemeteries and town halls, writing letters to family members and historical societies, and accumulating a significant collection of irreplaceable family documents. The Harringtons recognize the importance of professionally preserving unique documents, and, in memory of William Allerton Cushman, have made gifts to NEHGS for the conservation of books, letters, manuscripts, and other paper documents in need of long-term preservation: “Both George and I are pleased to hear that NEHGS is in the process of planning a new and professionally equipped conservation laboratory, and were happy to help match the grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund for this purpose. We were especially pleased to know that the laboratory will be a ‘public space’ where visitors to NEHGS can observe the conservation process and learn the importance of caring for works on paper for future generations.” D.D. and George Harrington with NEHGS conservation technician Deborah Rossi

Overall Campaign Goal: $50 million

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 7 In this Issue

n the editor’s note in the winter 2004 issue doubt, expanded readers’ understanding of the possi- Iof New England Ancestors (predecessor to American bilities and limitations of life in seventeenth-century Ancestors), I introduced a new column: “Diane New England. Rapaport, an NEHGS member, lawyer, and author Past “Tales from the Courthouse” columns can be of the well-received winter 2003 article ‘Scots for accessed in the pages of New England Ancestors Sale: The Fate of Scottish Prisoners in Seventeenth- and American Ancestors on the AmericanAncestors. Century Massachusetts’ launches her series ‘Tales from org website. Diane has also published two books: New the Courthouse.’ Each column will feature interesting England Court Records: A Research Guide for Genealogists case studies from colonial New England court records, and Historians (2006) and The Naked Quaker: True beginning this issue with Crimes and Controversies from the Courts of Colonial New ‘The Case of the Purloined England (2007). (The Naked Quaker contains twenty- Pigs.’” That first article was five court record tales, many previously published in followed by thirty-five oth- the NEHGS magazines.) For more information about ers, and the series, which Diane’s work, visit www.dianerapaport.com. Diane con- indeed proved to be most tinues to lecture and research on genealogical topics interesting, consistently and, in the future, I hope that our readers can enjoy received accolades and an occasional feature article by our “Tales from the garnered much positive Courthouse” columnist emeritus. reader feedback. Three articles received “excellence t in writing” awards from Lynn Betlock the International Society The thought of being held hostage by Barbary pi- of Family History Writers rates conjures up mythical and melodramatic images, and Editors. Now, eight years later, the “Tales from the but such incidents are well rooted in historical fact. Courthouse” column has come to an end, and I would Many people likely know about Barbary pirates at- like to wholeheartedly thank Diane for her many years tacking American merchant vessels and taking prison- of devotion and hard work on the series. ers during the first decades of the nineteenth-century, Diane’s signature achievement with “Tales from the actions which led to the First and Second Barbary Courthouse” was turning 300-year-old court cases Wars. Less well known is how Barbary pirate activity into gripping narratives that could arouse both sympa- during the last part of the seventeenth century affect- thy and scorn for their long-ago protagonists. People ed colonial Americans — the topic of our cover fea- often say, “If these walls could talk,” but, in her column, ture by Beth A. Bower, “Captivity with ye Barbarous Diane made the court records speak. Historical figures Turks: Seventeenth-Century New Englanders Held leapt off the page to argue, rail against injustice, and Hostage.” The story of these captives is a fascinating plead for readers’ sympathy. tale and, although only a relatively small number of “Tales from the Courthouse” also offered a refresh- New Englanders were enslaved, their plight had a ingly realistic, multi-dimensional view of colonial wider impact. Relatives of the hostages and their larg- New England society. Genealogists can sometimes find er communities and churches rallied to the occasion their knowledge of a specific time and place limited and sought to raise ransom funds. No doubt the sto- to biographical details that don’t encompass the total- ries of these captives contributed to a sense of unease ity of the world their ancestors experienced. Just as and vulnerability among their contemporaries; today, colonial courts dealt with all facets of crime and all knowledge of these extraordinary incidents gives us walks of life — from the poor and disenfranchised to a wider perspective on life for seventeenth-century the wealthy and privileged — so, too, did “Tales from New Englanders. the Courthouse.” The column introduced breakers of Lynn Betlock the peace, feuding neighbors, debtors, adulterers, ac- Managing Editor cused witches, pirates, runaway servants and slaves, and [email protected] Native American plaintiffs and defendents — and, no

8 American Ancestors Spring 2012 Letters & Feedback

Praise for American Ancestors American Ancestors, 12 (2011) 4:41–43]. Platt is I joined NEHGS because I was so impressed with the my great-great-great-great-grandfather. I own the old outstanding quality of American Ancestors magazine drop-down mahogany desk at which my great aunt when I picked up some old copies available for patrons Kathleen Hand did all her genealogy research. Every at the Fairfax County, Virginia, library. The quality of time my dad is at my house, he reminisces about seeing this magazine reflects very well on the whole organi- his Aunt Kathleen working at it. Now I look at it with zation. Keep up the outstanding work! love knowing that her work continues. Thank you for Richard English a great article. Arlington, Virginia Debbie Derr Seaford, Delaware “Her work continues” I was ecstatic to find the article on Captain Epenetus Editor’s note: The author of the article, Mary M. Thacher, Platt in the fall issue [“‘Brought to Great Straits and began her study of Epenetus Platt with a copy of Kathleen Reduced to Want’: Captain Epenetus Platt, Tory,” Hand’s research journal.

MY MOST CHALLENGING “BRICK WALL”

Feedback: What is the most challenging “brick wall” you have encountered through the course of your genealogical research? Please note that NEHGS does not verify responses.

According to a family story, in 1872, as teenagers, my County Tipperary. Where in Ireland was Mary born, great-grandmother, Mary Agnes Power, and her sis- and who were her ancestors and siblings? ter (possibly Florence) witnessed an assassination in Charlene Fisher Ireland. Their Catholic priest spirited them away from Rockledge, Florida possible retaliation, and arranged for passage to New York. Mary paid for her passage by becoming an in- My ancestor, Oliver Bartlett (b. Hadley, Mass., about dentured servant. Mary married Irish immigrant James 1743; d. Chenango Co., N.Y., between 1810 and Joseph Hoolehan in New York City about 1876/7. 1820), was likely a son of the Henry Bartlett from Their children were Michael Joseph (b. Aug. 18, 1878, Hadley who died in the Battle of Lake George in 1755. in Brooklyn); Mary F. (Mame) (b. 1879 in New York); Oliver and his brother, Daniel, b. 1754, are mentioned James Francis (b. 1880 in New York); Richard (b. 1882 in Boltwood’s Genealogies of Hadley Families. Clarence in Florida); and William David (b. 1886 in Florida). Bowen, in his Genealogies of Woodstock, Conn., Families Mary Agnes (Power) Hoolehan died in Florida in 1934 (vol. 2, p. 402), quotes an informant who claimed that at age eighty. Her death certificate listed her parents as Oliver and Daniel were two of Henry’s eleven chil- David Power and Mary ___. Family tradition says Mary’s dren. This claim is consistent with Henry’s 1734 mar- birth place could have been County Cork or Moneygall, riage to Martha White, but what happened to the other nine children, especially other sons who may Please address letters and brick walls to American have agnate (male-line) descendants? DNA tests have Ancestors magazine, 99–101 Newbury Street, suggested that this line is unrelated to other Bartlett Boston, MA 02116; or email magazine@nehgs. families in early Massachusetts, including those in org. We regret that we cannot reply to every letter. Northampton and Marlborough. Submissions will be edited for clarity and length. Limit Laura Spurrier brick wall submissions to 200 words or less. Responses Berkeley, California will be forwarded to submitters.

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 9 AnnouTincementle ts

2012 Summer Dinner: You’re invited! Please join us at a special dinner featuring a presentation by NEHGS Councilor Stephen H. Case on his new book, Treacherous Beauty: Peggy Shippen, the Woman Behind Benedict Arnold’s Plot to Betray America on July 20, 2012. While histories of the Revolutionary War honor several heroines, including Betsy Ross, Abigail Adams, and Molly Pitcher — this volume is the first biography to focus on one of the most remarkable women of the war, a beautiful society girl named Peggy Shippen. Peggy befriended a handsome British spy and then married a crippled American revolutionary general twice her age. At a crucial juncture in the Revolutionary War, she brought the two enemy war- riors together in a treasonous plot that came perilously close to turning George Washington into a prisoner of war and possibly changing the outcome of the conflict. Peggy Shippen was Mrs. Benedict Arnold. Stephen H. Case, Trustee of the American Revolution Center, is a managing director and general counsel at Emerald Development Managers, LP. He co-authored Treacherous Beauty with Mark Jacob. Space is limited. To register, please visit www.AmericanAncestors.org/summer-dinner.

Free Fun Friday on July 27: Please join us! NEHGS will be participating in the Highland Street Foundation’s “Free Fun Friday” program for the third year in a row. This summer the program will begin on June 29 and run through August 31. Each Friday, five venues in Massachusetts will be open to the public free of charge. NEHGS will welcome guests for a day of discovery on Friday, July 27. For more information about the program, please visit www.highlandstreet.org.

African-American History and Genealogy Day In celebration of Black History Month, NEHGS hosted an African-American History and Genealogy Day on February 8, 2012. Participants in this free program enjoyed presentations by NEHGS Online Genealogist David Allen Lambert on tracing African American ancestors, author and historian Alex R. Goldfeld on Boston’s earliest African American community, and former Executive Director of the Springfield Museums and author Joseph Carvalho III, who spoke about his revised edition of Black Families in Hampden County, Massachusetts, 1650–1865, recently published by NEHGS. Many people also took advantage of the opportunity to explore the research library. The day was filled with exciting discoveries as attendees found ancestors in the resources available at NEHGS. For Marie Firmin discovered a ship’s manifest listing her father, more information on African American resources at with assistance from library director Marie Daly. NEHGS, visit AfricanAmericanAncestors.org. (Photo by Lolita Parker Jr.)

10 American Ancestors Spring 2012 Now available from NEHGS:

Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research, 5th edition Now Announcements NEHGS is pleased to announce the arrival of the much-anticipated fifth edi- available tion of the Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research. It’s been more than and selling ten years since the last edition and, we can assure you, quickly! it was worth the wait! With a new two-color layout, expanded and updated content, and more how-to hints, finding New England records has never been easier. Order your copy today at AmericanAncestors.org. 7 x 10, softcover, 432 pp., illus., $24.95 (member price $22.46) What’s new in the fifth edition? • Introductory essays for each state • Listing of parent and daughter towns • Nearly 80 state and county maps • Charts, artwork, and photos • Updated repository information • Two-color design throughout

NEHGS hosts Italian partnership ASG Scholar Award The Consul General of Italy and the MIT Mobile The American Society of Genealogists gives an an- Experience Lab, in partnership with COMITES nual $500 scholarship that can be applied to any of (Committee of Italians Abroad) of Boston, hosted three genealogical institutes: (1) the National Institute a special program at NEHGS on December 7 with of Genealogical Research at the National Archives more than 100 guests. The event showcased Memory in Washington, D.C.; (2) the Institute of Genealogy Traces: A Collection of Italian Memories of Boston, a video and Historical Research at Samford University in interview project featuring recollections from first- Birmingham, Ala.; and (3) the Certificate Program in generation Italians, including Boston Mayor Thomas Genealogical Research at Boston University. For de- M. Menino, Boston Red Sox president and co-owner tails see the ASG website, www.fasg.org. Larry Lucchino, and co-owner of the Boston Celtics and managing partner of Bain Capital, Steve Pagliuca. The Junior League of Boston at NEHGS To learn more about this project to preserve Italian NEHGS Marketing Director Tom Champoux wel- heritage for future generations, visit http://locast.mit. comed guests of the Junior League of Boston’s Annual edu/memorytraces. Charity Ball at NEHGS on February 11. A VIP reception was held at NEHGS before the “Service and the City” gala at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel. The event raised funds in support of the nonprofit’s community service programs for women and girls in Boston.

Pictured here, from left, are: Consul General of Italy Giuseppe Pastorelli, Paul Ferri (founder of Matrix Partners), Salvatore Balsamo (founder and CEO of TAC Worldwide Companies), and Emilio Bizzi (MIT Institute NEHGS Marketing Director Tom Champoux and guests Professor and Investigator in the McGovern Institute). of the Junior League of Boston’s Annual Charity Ball in the Society’s Treat Rotunda.

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 11 New York Family History Day in Tarrytown, N.Y. — A smashing success! On March 17, NEHGS hosted its third Family History Day with Ancestry.com. Eight hundred family history researchers gathered in Tarrytown, New York, to attend twelve classes taught by experts from NEHGS and Ancestry.com, browse through books from our book store, and learn more about the benefits of membership. Exclusive one-on-one consultations with staff were in high demand and sold out in advance. Participants enjoyed class sessions on topics ranging from “Online Resources for Irish Research” to “Uncovering Your New York Ancestors.” Thirty-five of our staff members traveled from Boston to the Tarrytown event to share resources, expertise, and knowledge with the enthusiastic group.

One participant said, “I just attended the workshop in Tarrytown and it was wonderful! This was my first workshop like this, but I’m already looking for another!” A second participant noted “The consultation with an NEHGS expert was so helpful. It was the best $25 I’ve ever spent!” And a Facebook user posted on the NEHGS page, “Thank you, thank you for Family History Day in Tarrytown! I learned a lot and felt a part of a larger community!”

NEHGS is the largest society for New York genealogy and has statewide resources and expertise, with an extensive library collection, staff genealogists, and online databases.

12 American Ancestors Spring 2012 Coming soon from the Coming Fall 2012 Great Migration Study Project The Winthrop Fleet By Robert Charles Anderson The Complete Great In 1630 John Winthrop led a fleet of eleven ships Migration Newsletter, and about 1,100 Puritans from England to the New Volumes 1–20 By Robert Charles Anderson World. This forthcoming volume will include more Under the leadership of than 200 genealogical and biographical Robert Charles Anderson, sketches — updated and expanded the Great Migration Study from The Great Migration Begins Project aims to compile — of passengers traveling with authoritative genealogical Winthrop. More information and biographical accounts and pricing to come. of every person who settled in New England between 1620 and 1640. The Great Migration Newsletter has been a cornerstone publication within this proj- Other volumes from the ect for the past twenty years and offers researchers essential articles on migration patterns, early records, Great Migration Study Project: life in seventeenth-century New England, and more. • The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Now, for the first time, all twenty volumes of the Colony, 1620–1633, 6 x 9, softcover, $29.95 Newsletter, spanning the years 1990 through 2011, (member price $26.96) are together in one compendium. A comprehensive • The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New index provides an easy way to find subjects, place England, 1620–1633, 3 vols., 6 x 9, hardcover, names, surnames, and even first names in these $125 (member price $99) twenty volumes. • The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 8½ x 11, 750 pp., softcover $27.95 (member price 1634–1635, 7 vols., 6 x 9, hardcover, $59.95– $25.16). For customers who already have The $64.95 each (member price $53.96–$58.46), Complete Great Migration Newsletter, Volumes 1–15, a complete set: $375. separate compilation for volumes 16–20 only will soon be available: 8½ x 11, 200 pp., softcover $11.95 To learn more about the Great Migration Study (member price $10.76). Project, visit www.GreatMigration.org. Now available from NEHGS Guide to Published Genealogies in the Library of the New England Historic Genealogical Society Introduction by Gary Boyd Roberts. 8 ½ x 11, 1528 pp., softcover $49.95 (member price $44.96) NEHGS has collected more than twenty thousand published family histories since its founding in 1845. Here for the first time is a list of all published genealogies the Society acquired prior to 2011. The collection includes almost every published genealogy on New England families, plus works on families throughout the United States, Canada, and thirty-nine other coun- tries around the world. Arranged alphabetically by surname, the book cross-references works with multiple surnames to make it easy to locate your families. Order at www.AmericanAncestors.org today!

Duck “ConDUCKtors” Breakfast and Tour On Wednesday, March 6, 2012, about thirty Boston Duck Tours “ConDUCKtors” visited NEHGS for a breakfast, lecture, and tour of the NEHGS research center. The ConDUCKtors were delighted to learn about NEHGS, and many made their own family history discoveries. When the Boston Ducks drive down Newbury Street on their tours, the ConDUCKtors provide valuable information about NEHGS and other area attractions, and Duck Tour passengers are offered free entrance to NEHGS.

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 13 New searchable databases on AmericanAncestors.org Books, journals, and periodicals Masonic records • The American Genealogist, volumes 59–68 • Massachusetts Grand Lodge of • The Connecticut Nutmegger, volumes 42–43 Masons membership cards, sur- • The Essex Genealogist, volumes 16–20 names U–Z (series concluded) • The Mayflower Descendant, volumes 26–30 Vital records • The New York Genealogical and Biographical • Connecticut vital records: Derby, Haddam, Record, volumes 11–15 Killingworth, Lyme, Simsbury, Suffield, • Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, Wallingford, Woodbury, volumes 16–20 • Massachusetts Deaths, 1914 Cemetery records • Portsmouth, N.H., vital records, 1709–1841 • Long Island cemetery inscriptions, 1652–1910 Church records • New York, N.Y.: Reformed Dutch Church baptisms,1639–1740

Obituaries Robert Johnston Dunkle, 1929–2012 Robert A. Jones, 1937–2012 Robert Johnston Dunkle of Naples, Florida, died there Robert Allan Jones, NEHGS councilor and former on January 20, 2012. He was born to the late Robert trustee, died at his home in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, J. and Ruth (Litchfield) Dunkle on May 29, 1929 in on February 28, 2012, aged 74, after a long illness. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Noble Mr. Jones joined the Society in 1998 and became & Greenough School in Dedham, Massachusetts, in a life member in 2001. He served on the Board of 1947 and received his B.A. in History from Trinity Trustees from 2005 to 2010, and served terms as College in 1951. Councilor from 2004 to 2005, and from 2010 until Robert was a veteran of the U.S. Navy Reserves, his death. and served in the ZP-911 Squadron as a Dirigible He was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, on August radioman and bombardier from 1948 until May 1956. 11, 1937, son of Guy and Ruth (Workman) Jones. A During his business career, Robert was an investment graduate of Tufts University and a U.S. Navy veteran, broker and vice-president for Laird, Bissell and Meads Mr. Jones had a long career as a commercial real estate of Wilmington, Delaware, and Boston. He later held developer. In the early 1970s, he formed his own busi- further positions with R.W. PressPridge & Co. and ness, Robert A. Jones & Co., which was later renamed Tucker Anthony & R.L. Day. The Athenaeum Group. His company became one of He married Joan Osborn in 1953 and raised his family the largest property owners in the city of Cambridge, in the Boston area, later relocating to North Hampton, Mass., and was one of the first to identify the East New Hampshire, and, finally, to Naples, Florida. Cambridge–Kendall Square area, adjacent to M.I.T., Bob was a thirty-eight-year member of the Society. as a future office and biomedical research hub. He also He began working for NEHGS in 1992. During his took leadership roles in many Cambridge-area philan- tenure, Bob made many important contributions thropic and charitable organizations. to NEHGS and the field of genealogy, especially in In the 1990s Mr. Jones and his wife, the former editing and transcribing New England church and Linda Giles, retired to their summer home in Boothbay vital records; his work resulted in eight books (six with Harbor to enjoy life on the ocean. In addition to his Ann S. Lainhart) and eleven CDs. In addition to his wife, he is survived by a brother, three sons, and nine publications, Bob spent countless hours indexing and grandchildren. preparing materials for the NEHGS websites, often submitting work all seven days of the week. In this role Bob also provided valuable day-to-day management of volunteer projects related to the websites, overseeing as many as sixty volunteers at any given time. Surviving are his wife, four children, nine grand children and two great-grandchildren.

14 American Ancestors Spring 2012 Education prTiogtlerams & Tours

Boston Programs

Behind-the-Scenes Tour of “Old Ironsides” Thursday, May 31, 5:30 p.m. Join NEHGS and the crew at the USS Constitution Museum for a private, after-hours tour of USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides,” the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. After the tour, take a behind-the-scenes look at the museum’s collections and archives. Museum president Anne Grimes Rand will share plans for the Bicentennial of the War of 1812. Free for guests of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. RSVP by May 25; rsvp@ Courtesy of the USS Constitution Museum. ussconstitutionmuseum.org or 617-426-1812 ext 167. Free

Come Home to New England Session I: Monday, June 11–Saturday, June 16, 2012 Session II: Monday, August 6–Saturday, August 11, 2012 You are invited to join NEHGS for a week of guided research at our research facility in Boston. You’ll have access to personalized one-on-one consultations, lectures, and special participant-only admission hours. The week’s lectures include an orientation to NEHGS collections, methodology seminars, and daily discussions. The program includes group meals and social events to meet other members, discuss your research, and share your stories. Space is limited. Tuition (does not include lodging): $750.

Publishing Your Family History Seminar — Part I Saturday, September 15, 9–4 p.m. If you’re ready to turn your family history research into a publication, join the experts at NEHGS to learn best practices in publishing your findings. NEHGS offers guidance on writing and publishing your family history project in this two-part seminar. Workshops in Part I include goal setting, using genealogical style, working with images, and adding narrative to your genealogy. Part II, to be held in February 2013, delves into the editorial process and book production, and offers opportunities to consult with experts. Space is limited. Tuition: $110.

Fall Weekend Research Getaway — Researching Female Ancestors October 18–20 Uncover the wealth of materials available to researchers at the NEHGS Library at 99-101 Newbury Street during our Weekend Research Getaway. The program features extended library hours, individual consultations, group meals, and themed lectures. Space is limited. Tuition (does not include lodging): $300; single days $110 each. Tours

Albany Research Tour July 11–15, 2012 Featured NEHGS Experts: Christopher C. Child, Henry B. Hoff, David Dearborn. Our first trip to Albany, New York, in July 2011 was such a success we’re offering a repeat trip. If you missed your chance last year, sign up now and join NEHGS as we explore the vast resources

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 15 Boston Educational Programs NEHGS invites members, guests, and the general public to participate in our dynamic educational programming. Wednesday, May 9 . . . . Using AmericanAncestors.org ...... 10 a.m. Thursday, May 31 . . . . USS Constitution Tour* ...... 5:30 p.m. Saturday, June 2 . . . . . New Visitor Welcome Tour ...... 10 a.m. Monday, June 11– Saturday, June 16 ...... Come Home to New England – Session 1* Wednesday, June 27 . . . The Title Game: English Royal, Noble, and Honorary Titles . . . 12 p.m. Wednesday, July 11 . . . New Visitor Welcome Tour ...... 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 18 . . . Using AmericanAncestors.org ...... 10 a.m. Friday, July 27 . . . . . Free Fun Friday ...... 9 a.m. Saturday, August 4 . . . . New Visitor Welcome Tour ...... 10 a.m. Monday, August 6– Saturday, August 11 . . . Come Home to New England — Session 2* Wednesdays, August 15, 22, 29 . . . Getting Started in Genealogy* ...... 6 p.m. Wednesday, September 5 . New Visitor Welcome Tour ...... 10 a.m. Wednesday, September 12 . Using AmericanAncestors.org ...... 10 a.m. Saturday, September 15 . . Publishing Your Family History Seminar, Part I* ...... 9 a.m. Saturday, October 6 . . . New Visitor Welcome Tour ...... 10 a.m. *Registration and/or fees required.

of the New York State Archives in Albany. The trip includes individual consultations, lectures, a reception, and a group dinner. Space is limited. Tuition (includes four nights’ lodging at the Albany Hotel): single, $785; double (shared lodging with another participant), $585 per person; double with non-researching guest, $935; commuter (no lodging), $185.

Salt Lake City Research Tour October 28–November 4, 2012 Visit the world’s largest library for genealogy and family history as NEHGS returns to Salt Lake City and the Family History Library for our thirty- fourth annual tour. Daily activities include individual consultations with NEHGS genealogists, lectures, and other special events. Space is limited. Tuition (includes seven nights’ lodging at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel): single, $1,550; double (shared lodging with another participant), $1,350 per person; double with non-researching guest, $1,850; commuter (no lodging), $775.

Register for NEHGS Events Online: Registration for all tours is available online at www.AmericanAncestors.org/events. Phone: Call 617-226-1226 to register for any event. Mail: Download a registration form online, or request one at 617-226-1226 or [email protected]

Lodging in Boston Located a short three-block walk from NEHGS, the Charlesmark Hotel at 655 Boylston Street offers special rates for NEHGS members throughout the year on a space-available basis. The hotel can be reached at 617-247-1212 or www.thecharlesmark.com. Please identify yourself as an NEHGS member when contacting the Charlesmark for reservations and expect to show your membership card upon arrival.

16 American Ancestors Spring 2012 The Online Genealogist

The Online Genealogist Answers Your Questions by David Allen Lambert

The Civil War record of my ancestor Joseph Mossey, might be able to find whether he assumed a new name who served with the Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, prior to his move to Canada. Most likely, though, he shows that he used an alias, Frederick Devoid. When came to Canada by land. Prior to April 1908 no re- I looked at Frederick Devoid’s record, I saw Joseph cords were kept of people who crossed the border Mossey listed as his alias. Both men appear in the from the United States to Canada. census of 1870. Why would a man have an alias in the Civil War? What English ports were used by immigrants depart- ing for New England in the seventeenth century? No one answer to this question would fit all cases. Among the hundreds of service records and pension The major ports were Barnstaple, Bristol, Dartmouth, files I have examined, I have occasionally seen aliases Exeter, Ipswich, London, Plymouth, Southampton, listed. Sometimes an alias is used because a soldier is Weymouth, and Yarmouth. London was, by several trying to distance himself from some criminal activity, orders of magnitude, the most frequently used port. generally desertion from a previous enlistment. If both For thirty-five years I have looked for the parents Mossey and Devoid appear in the 1870 census, I think of Peter Smith, born 15 Feb. 1760, probably in they are probably two separate men. Brentwood, New Hampshire. He served in the My French grandfather arrived in New York as a Revolution, married Hannah Sanborn on 2 Aug. young man in 1895, and his birth name is on the 1783 in Brentwood, and died in Knox, Maine, 18 passenger list and in Ellis Island records. By 1898 he May 1837. Where do you suggest I look? was in Nova Scotia, with a completely different last Few New Hampshire towns have published vital name which he used for the rest of his life. I have records, but most VRs to about the 1840s have been never been able to find out when, where, and how microfilmed. The New Hampshire State Library he officially changed his name. At that time could in Concord has a card index to these records, the someone simply assume a new surname? Index to Early New Hampshire Town Records, which Your ancestor may not have officially changed his can also be found on microfilm at NEHGS and name, especially if he never used his original surname the Family History Library. I suggest checking this legally in North America. Immigrants were given index (or asking a researcher to check it for you) for the opportunity to change their names upon being Smiths living in Brentwood and beyond. I also recom- naturalized as U.S. citizens, but your ancestor moved mend looking for Brentwood Smiths in Rockingham to Canada before the U.S. citizenship waiting period County probates and deeds. Another useful source for would have lapsed. If your ancestor arrived in Canada New Hampshire research is William Copeley’s 2000 by ship, you can search arrival records online at www. Index to Genealogies in New Hampshire Town Histories, collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/passenger/index-e.html. published by the New Hampshire Historical Society. If your ancestor’s name is on an arrival manifest, you This volume indexes the surnames from 202 New Hampshire town histories. The book is available in libraries and for Contact the online genealogist purchase from the New Hampshire Email David Lambert at [email protected]. Historical Society (www.nhhistory. For more questions and answers, visit the Question org/store). More generally, I advise of the Day archive at www.AmericanAncestors.org/ you to research all seventeenth- blogs.aspx?blogid=111. century Smiths in Brentwood; once you organize them into family groups, a connection to Peter might become more apparent.

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 17 “Captivity with ye Barbarous Turks” Seventeenth-Century New Englanders Held Hostage by Beth A. Bower

n the aftermath of King Philip’s War (1675– were captured and enslaved by the Turks from the fif- I1676), New Englanders had reason to fear a new teenth through the eighteenth centuries.[3] enemy, North African corsairs, also called “barbarous Turks” and, in the eighteenth century, Barbary pirates. The threat to New England An increase in attacks on English shipping led to the New England mariners were aware of the risk of capture of more than 100 New Englanders between capture by corsairs. Governor John Winthrop writes 1678 and 1684.[1] The constantly changing alliances of the Austins, who sailed from New Haven en route and conflicts between England, European powers, to England in the early 1640s, only to be captured and and the Ottoman Empire meant that any ship was in sold into slavery in Algiers.[4] In 1644, the Massachusetts danger of attack from official navies, state-subsidized General Court gave Captain Thomas Bredcake a year- corsairs, and freelance pirates. The North African prin- long commission to capture any Turkish pirate he cipalities of Algeria, Tripoli, and Tunis were under the encountered.[5] Abraham Browne, a recent English protection of the Ottoman Empire and were autho- immigrant to Boston and son of a redeemed captive, rized to prey on European shipping.[2] (Moroccan was himself captured by the Moroccans and ransomed pirates, a distinct group, were active throughout the in 1655. He returned to Boston, married, and wrote seventeenth century, when the independent principal- a captivity narrative.[6] Captain William Foster of ity of Morocco sailed fleets of corsairs that brought Charlestown and his son were captured in 1671 and captives to the cities of Salé and Mequinez.) Historian ransomed from Algiers in 1672.[7] Robert C. Davis estimates that 1.5 million Christians Between 1677 and 1680, the Algerine [from Algeria] corsairs were particularly active, cap- Above: Andries van Eertvelt, “An Algerine Ship off turing 153 English ships with an estimated [8] a Barbary Port.” 17th century. ©National Maritime 1,850 men on board and £153,000 of cargo. Museum, Greenwich, London, UK Among those ships were four from Massachusetts: the

18 American Ancestors Spring 2012 New Englanders taken by Algerine Pirates, 1678–1684 Name D.O.B.–D.O.D. City/Town Year Taken Fate References The Blessing Babell, Roger Boston 1678 Unknown 7 Bastar, Benjamin 1652–? Boston 1678 Unknown 1, 7 Branstome/Branscombe, Asher or Arthur Boston 1678 Unknown 1,3,6 Corbin, Thomas 1656–bef.1704 Muddy River 1678 Ransomed 1681 1,4 Drinker, Philip Charlestown 1678 Unknown 3, 7 Elson, Captain James 1643–1680 Charlestown 1678 Ransomed 1679 1,2,6 Elson, Richard Charlestown 1678 Unknown 6 Lampson, Loveday 1678 Ransomed 1681 4 March, William Died by 1695 Charlestown 1678 Unknown 3, 7 Mason, Daniel 1648–1680 Watertown 1678 Died in captivity by 5/1680 5, 6 Merrick/Mirick, Benjamin 1644–aft. 1701 Charlestown 1678 Ransomed by 1684 3, 7 Mitchell, Thomas Charlestown 1678 Unknown 7 Newcomb, Michael Charlestown 1678 Ransomed by 1689 7, 8 Smith, George Boston 1678 Ransomed 1681 1, 4 The Rose Fernell/Furnell, Captain John 1654–by 1699 Boston 1678 Escaped 1, 2 Jenner, Thomas Jr. 1658–by 1706 Charlestown 1678 Ransomed 1681 3, 4, 6 Mitchell, Thomas 1628–1709 Malden 1678 Ransomed 1681 3, 4 The Unity Condey, Captain William 1638–1685 Boston 1680 Ransomed 1681 1, 2, 4, 5 Chapman, John 1680 Ransomed 1681 4, 5 Harris, William 1610–1681 Providence, RI 1680 Ransomed 1681 5 Johnson, Simon 1680 Ransomed 1681 4 Watts, John Boston 1680 Ransomed 1681 1, 4 The William and Mary Ashley, Captain Edward Boston 1680 Ransomed by 1685 1, 2, 10 Bumstead, John Boston 1680 Ransomed 1681 1, 4 Gee, Joshua Abt. 1654–1724 Boston 1680 Ransomed 1687 1, 10, 11 Hallowell, Benjamin 1656–1751 Boston 1680 Ransomed by 1689 1, 11 Purkis, George ?–by 1682 Boston 1680 Died in captivity 1 John’s Adventure Monk, Captain Christopher Boston 1681 Recaptured by English 1681 13 Ship Unknown Ayers/Eyres, Moses Abt. 1664 Dorchester Before 1680 Ransomed after 1684 6, 12 Bowens, (unknown) Roxbury Before 1685 Unknown 12 Dommett/Dommit, Alexander Boston 1681 Unknown 9 Gould/Gold, Samuel Boston Before 1680 Unknown 1, 6 Gould/Gold, Thomas Before 1680 Unknown 6 Green, John 1657–? Cambridge 1681 Unknown 9 Guanes, Joseph Before 1680 Unknown 6 Litchfield, Mary Abt. 1640–1703 Dorchester Before 1681 Ransomed by 1683 12 Robinson (son of Widow) Dorchester? Before 1683 Ransomed 1684 12 Thatcher, Thomas Before 1680 Unknown 6 Tucker, (Unknown) Boston Before 1685 Unknown 12 Whidden (son of Widow Elizabeth) Piscataqua Before 1683 Unknown 11, 12 Key to references (notes refer to the citations on pages 23–24): 1. Thwing [note 37]; 2. A list of ships taken since July, 1677 [note 1]; 3. Thomas B. Wyman Charlestown Genealogies and Estates (1879); 4. Scull [note 12]; 5. Harris Papers [note 19]; 6. Thompson [note 7]; 7. Petition by Thomas Jenner [note 10]; 8. “Record-Book of the First Church of Charlestown” Register 28 (1874): 122; 9. “Copy of the Diary of Noahdiah Russell, Tutor at Harvard College, Beginning Anno Dom. 1682,” Register 7 (1853): 54; 10. Gee [note 14]; 11. “Letter-book of Samuel Sewall” [note 25]; 12. Records of the First Church at Dorchester, 1636-1734 [note 33]; 13. Mather [note 16], 352–354. Blessing, the Rose, the Unity, and the William and Mary, The four ships which sailed from Boston and Charlestown. Captured The Blessing of Charlestown was captured on October or killed were at least sixty crew members and an un- 24, 1678. Captained by James Elson of Charlestown, known number of passengers, including at least one it had twenty men on board, including his brother woman, Mary Litchfield.[9] Nineteen captives were Richard Elson, Asher Branstome, Thomas Corbin, fortunate enough to be ransomed, and most of these Loveday Lampson, George Smith, and ship’s sur- returned to New England to resume their lives. The geon Daniel Mason. A petition by Thomas Jenner remainder died in Algiers from disease or from having to Governor Bradstreet and the council requesting been worked to death as slaves. a “favorable pittance” on behalf of Benjamin Bastar,

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 19 Philip Drinker, William March, Benjamin Merrick, Thomas Mitchell, and Michael Newcomb of Boston and Charlestown “all in Slavery in Algier” likely refers to mariners on the Blessing.[10] The Rose of Boston, captained by John Furnell (Fernell), was captured November 5, 1678, most likely on its return from England.[11] Captain Furnell escaped but Thomas Jenner of Charlestown and Thomas Mitchell of Malden were both captured.[12] The Unity of Boston was captured en route to London on January 24, 1680. The captain was William Condey of Boston (formerly of New London, Connecticut), and twenty-eight men were aboard. This ship carried William Harris, the agent for the Patuxet proprietors to the English government, as well as John Chapman, Simon Johnson, and John Watts.[13] The William and Mary sailed January 25, 1680, traveled to Virginia to collect tobacco, and was bound for Topsham, Devon, England, when it was captured by the Algerines on July 29, 1680. Captain Edward Ashley was captured along with one of the partners in the venture, ship- “A list of ships taken since July, 1677. from His Majesties wright Joshua Gee (b. circa 1654), and crewmember subjects, by the corsairs of Algier.” Boston Athenæum. John Bumstead. Ashley’s brother-in-law, Benjamin The captors, in no hurry to return home, spent the Hallowell, and George Purkis, tin man, of Boston also next month trolling for other prizes. Luckily for Monk likely sailed on this vessel.[14] and his crew, two British ships attacked the Half Moon [16] Attack and capture and freed the Bostonians in early September 1681. During the trip to Algiers, the corsairs tried to Ships sailing in the Atlantic often convoyed to put off determine whether their captives had any wealth the Turkish corsairs, but inconsistent weather, winds, or special skills. This information was used to set a and differing-sized ships made convoys difficult. In ransom price and value in the slave market. All mem- the 1670s, many of the Barbary privateers had tran- bers of a corsair crew, including Janissaries and even sitioned from rowed galley ships to full sailing vessels, galley slaves, would profit from division of the cargo such as the Algerine man-of-war White Horse, which and sale of captives. Joshua Gee was put in irons in the carried fifty guns and 500 men, including a contin- hold of the Algerian ship “with nothing but stones for gent of the Ottoman Empire’s professional soldiers, the our pillows” until one of the Algerine crew showed Janissaries.[15] The corsairs would track a ship or compassion and gave him a bag full of clothing. During ships for several days before attacking. Once corsairs those first days or weeks of captivity, the prisoners had boarded a ship, all passengers and crew were impris- much time to think, and Gee later recalled how he oned in the ship’s hold (if seaworthy) and taken to “lost a considerable interest in vessel and cargo, myself Algiers. The trip to Algiers could take a few days or a slave but the thoughts of the grief it would be to my stretch to weeks if the pirates chose to track and at- aged parents did add to my sorrow.”[17] tack other prizes. In some cases the corsairs were attacked by British ships and their captives rescued. Such Algerine slavery was the case for Bostonian Christopher Monk, captain On arrival in Algiers the captives, except some high- of the John’s Adventure. He departed Torquay, Devon, ranking persons who would fetch substantial ransoms, England, in late July 1681; eight days later his ship was were put in the slave “pen” or imprisoned under chased and captured by the Algerine ship Half Moon.

20 American Ancestors Spring 2012 “house arrest.” Within days the captives were marched succeeded; others were caught, whipped until almost to the slave market, similar to such markets in the dead, or executed. American colonies. The captives were paraded before Also threatening to these New Englanders were the potential buyers, physically inspected for strengths and constant efforts of the Muslim Algerines to convert weaknesses, and closely questioned regarding their their captives. Gee and his compatriots were surrounded experience and skills. Algerians bought the captives by renagados, Christian men who had converted to for work, ransom, or both. The Algerian Dey, who Islam and thereby won their freedom. Many served as received a percentage of the proceeds of all sales, then captains of Algerine ships. Before he reached Algiers decided whether he wanted any of the slaves. Gee “greatly feared being left to distrust God and did Joshua Gee was so valuable to his masters that he was humbly beg that I might be helped to glorify God in enslaved for seven years despite continuing efforts to the fire although I should be led through the valley of ransom him. Gee and his fellow Bostonian Benjamin the shadow of death.”[20] He writes, “I always found Hallowell were skilled shipwrights and literate; Gee relief in seeking God when I could find it nowhere was his master’s “little carpenter,” who built ships and else: it was a great relief to me that I had learned so served as a ship’s carpenter. Poor, illiterate, low-skilled much scripture by heart when I was young. It afforded sailors and passengers with few connections faced slav- sweet meditations in the night of my pilgrimage.”[21] ery until death, usually on one of the corsair ships or in Algerian mines. Women in captivity Christian slaves were given a certain amount of As terrifying as the Algerine captivity was for men, it “freedom.” Some lived in the “slave pen,” others in promised even greater horrors for women. The treat- their master’s compound. All could move about, man- ment of women appears to have depended on the pres- age their own businesses (as long as their master shared ence or absence of male protection, social status, and in the profits), and visit with their compatriots. Gee age. Among English captives, women were a distinct writes of receiving an English Bible from Bostonian minority. In the 1680s only five women are listed among Thomas Corbin shortly after his capture. In his cap- more than 400 redeemed.[22] In 1769, Englishwoman tivity narrative Gee relates, “When we had holy days Elizabeth Marsh wrote a narrative entitled The Female allowed us, as was usual Christmas and Easter as also Captive. Captured in 1756 by Moroccan corsairs while their Great feast twice a year . . . we could conveniently sailing from Gibraltar to England, twenty-one-year-old meet in some private Garden some miles distant from Marsh pretended to be the wife of one of her fellow town carrying with us some provisions and reading and praying and praising God for his goodness and for his manifold mercies to us in that strange land.”[18] Christian slaves who went to sea often participated in sea battles against their own countrymen. If the slaves were lucky, the English ships won these battles. William Harris wrote in May 1680: “The English have taken five of the Turkish men-of- war, and thereby have taken many Christians that the Turks had with them and so they are set free, and taken many Turks, and they will serve to redeem English men. . . . ” [19] Many, including Olfert Dapper, De Stadt Algier. [The City of Algier.] Circa 1668–70. General Gee, plotted to escape. Some Research & Reference Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor. Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 21 captives. She wrote that this pretense did not protect be as low as £15 and as high as £400. Whether a treaty her from the advances of the “soon-to-be sultan” Sidi between the English government and Algiers was in ef- Muhammad, who invited her to his Marrakech palace fect; the perceived value of the captive; and the whims to be one of his concubines. Elizabeth rebuffed the of the specific owner affected the price. The English prince and was later ransomed. Young women “were consul and merchants represented the captives, negoti- rare commodities and commanded — if young and ated with the Algerians, and received money and in- healthy and brought to a slave market of some kind structions from the home country and families. — a substantial price.”[23] If they had no protection or William Harris, held in solitary confinement, wrote perceived wealth they most likely became sex slaves to that they “beat on John Chapman of Boston until they their masters and were never ransomed. made him promise them twelve hundred [Spanish] In 1685, Mary Litchfield of Dorchester, Massachu- dollars, and the man I think hath it not . . . if a [pa- setts, petitioned Governor Bradstreet and the Court of troon] please he kill his slave and only pays the Kings Assistants to assist in righting misfortunes that occurred house their sum.”[28] Harris wrote to his family and while “Your poor petitioner” was in “Captivity with friends; his London and New England business associ- ye Barbarous Turks.”[24] While sailing on a ship from ates; the government of Connecticut on whose behalf Boston to England, Mary Litchfield was captured by he traveled; and William Blathwait, Clerk of the Privy the Algerine privateers between 1677 and 1680. Mary Council, pleading for them to raise his ransom and Litchfield was about thirty-eight, twice married, and send twice “by the first ship for speed, and by a second the mother of six children when she was captured.[25] for safety; least the first should miscarry.”[29] He was Her age or the protection of her fellow male passen- ever mindful that he had one year to raise his rangers made her more likely to have been held for ransom before he would returned to his “cruel master.” som under house arrest or used as a slave attendant Blathwait wrote the Connecticut government to say in a household or seraglio. After several years she was that he had thought Harris a “fit object of Charity” ransomed and returned to Dorchester.[26] and had given him 300 dollars credit to pay ransom and travel to London, but “the Poor man being tired Ransoms out with the ill-usage of his master has imprudently England did not have a consistent ransom procedure. enough promised a most extravagant ransom (800 dol- During the 1670s a ransom fund of £20,000 was lars).” Blathwait’s postscript baldly states that that no created and the Lords of the Treasury directed that merchant “will concern themselves with Mr. Harris £40 would be provided per captive who could pay without further order.”[30] the remainder of his ransom. Since an estimated 900 English slaves were then held in Algiers alone, the fund would only allow ransom of half those in captivity. Several English merchants with trading ties to North Africa, including William Bowtell, subscribed to an additional fund to assist the captives. Bowtell arranged the ransom of 391 English prisoners, including nine from New England.[27] The burden of rais- ing funds to reimburse the government and the English merchants fell to the relatives, friends, and communities of those enslaved. The cost to ransom a captive varied, and could “Purchase of Christian captives from the Barbary States.” 17th century. WikimediaCommons.

22 American Ancestors Spring 2012 Petitions to the Massachusetts General Court asking When Mary Litchfield returned to Boston around for ransom assistance for the crew of the Blessing were 1684, she found that her marriage had fallen apart. apparently put aside, leaving the burden to individual While she was in captivity her husband, Thomas families and churches. Soon after learning of her hus- Litchfield, had petitioned the town of Dorchester for band George’s capture in 1680, Elizabeth (Pemberton) the liberty to sell his wife’s house and ground. He Purkis arranged letters of credit advancing £160 to- could have been intending to raise funds for her rewards redeeming her husband out of Algier, guaranteed demption, but the Dorchester selectmen were clearly by her father James Pemberton and her brother Thomas suspicious and responded that Litchfield could not sell Pemberton. In 1682, she secured the loan from them by the property “until he should first attain the consent signing over her and her husband’s rights to the Purkis of his wife therein.”[36] Thomas Litchfield divorced his house, grounds, and shop.[31] Sadly, George Purkis died wife “soon after her return from captivity.” No full before returning home. Peter and Grace Gee also mort- divorce record has been found, but two depositions gaged property for “redeeming our younger son Joshua state that in 1685 Thomas Litchfield lived with a preg- Gee from out of Turkish slavery in Algier.”[32] nant woman he called his wife and said he would not The desperate families seeking to redeem their go to see his ransomed wife. Mary Litchfield married loved ones turned to their churches and the network a third time, to Thomas Hooper, and lived in her small of New England ministers. Both Increase and Cotton house in Dorchester until her death in 1703.[37] Mather preached sermons about the captives, and Joshua Gee wrote a narrative of his captivity and local churches collected ransom contributions. In early commemorated the date he returned to Boston: January 1681, the Dorchester Church records state that “there 11, 1688. In 1715, Samuel Sewall wrote in his diary that was a contribution for Goody Litchfield and Mitchell he went to Gee’s house, “where dined Dr. Increase and of Malden at which time there was collected and the Dr. Cotton Mather, Mr. Bridge, Mr. Wadsworth, Mr. next day sent in the sum of £11.17.9 of which about Thornton, Mr. Jonathan Marion, Deacon Barnard, Mr. 7 pound in particular for Litchfield and the rest to Ruck, Captain Martyn, Mr. Hallowell. It seems it was be divided.”[33] Dorchester continued to raise funds for a remembrance of his landing this day at Boston after other captives, as did the Cambridge church.[34] his Algerine captivity.”[38] Gee took, as his second wife, The funds collected through the churches were given Elizabeth Thatcher, sister of captive Thomas Thatcher, to Boston merchants with English agents in London. and Gee’s son, Rev. Joshua Gee, married Sarah Rogers, Until his death in 1683, Mint master John Hull assisted granddaughter of his father’s fellow captive George with the ransoming of several captives. His son-in-law, Purkis (William and Mary).[39] Samuel Sewall, continued that role after Hull’s death The Algerine attacks waned after the early 1680s, and and was the force behind the continued efforts to ran- in 1694 no English prisoners were held in Algiers.[40] som Joshua Gee and Benjamin Hallowell. Gee was When Moroccan pirates became more active in the late finally ransomed July 14, 1687, and arrived in Boston 1680s and 1690s, they captured several Massachusetts on January 11, 1688. He visited Sewall immediately and ships, prompting a further round of redemptions directed him to have his London agents apply the unex- by Samuel Sewall and others.[41] After that time the pended Gee ransom money to the ransom of Benjamin Barbary States’ impact on shipping diminished until Hallowell, and try to obtain funds from the English ran- the late eighteenth century.[42] som commission “because the estate of the Hallowells is For late seventeenth-century New England families but little, and that much exhausted by lawsuits.”[35] the threat of capture and death during King Philip’s war was quickly followed by a similar threat from the Freedom sea. At least 100 men and women were lost tempo- Sadly, after their ordeal some captives died on their rarily or permanently to slavery in northern Africa. way home. William Harris survived the overland trek Barbary captivity forced wives and a few husbands to through Spain and France, but he died three days after work, with the help of their churches, against time and reaching London. Captain Elson died within a year steep odds to ransom their loved ones. Their stories of and Captain Condey within four years of returning to redemption or untimely death are another fascinating Boston. Despite their ordeal, some mariners returned aspect of New England family history.  to seafaring. A few captives, such as Thomas Corbin, relocated to England. In London in 1689, Samuel Notes Sewall was so shocked by the redeemed Hallowell’s 1 A list of ships taken since July, 1677. from His Majesties subjects, appearance that he worried Hallowell would never by the corsairs of Algier: with their names, masters names, and places reach Boston alive. But Gee and Hallowell remained to which they belong’d, and time of taking: with a modest estimate of the loss. (London: Printed for Richard Janeway, 1682). Held by shipwrights and became prominent Bostonians. Spring 2012 American Ancestors 23 the Boston Athenaeum. For additional sources see notes 7, 10, 21 Gee, Narrative [note 14], 27. 14, 19, 25, 33. 22 Linda Colley, “The Narrative of Elizabeth Marsh: Barbary, Sex, 2 Robert C. Davis, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slav- and Power” in Felicity A. Nussbaum, ed., The Global Eighteenth ery in the Mediterranean, The Barbary Coast, and Italy, 1500–1800 Century (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003), 140. (New York: Palgrave, Macmillan, 2004), 27–33; Linda Colley, 23 Colley [note 22], 140–142; and Linda Colley, The Ordeal of Captives: Britain, Empire and the World, 1600–1850 (New York: Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History (New York: Anchor Anchor Books); and Sir Robert Lambert Playfair, The Scourge Books, 2007), 41–86. of Christendom: Annals of British Relations with Algiers prior to the 24 French Conquest (London: Smith, Elder & Company, 1884). Petition of Mary Litchfield [note 9]. 25 3 Davis [note 2], 23–24. Mary Litchfield was married to Joseph Long of Dorchester in 1662 and had five children by him. She married Thomas 4 Richard S. Dunn, James Savage, and Laetitia Yeandle, eds., The Litchfield after 1676; the birth of a daughter was recorded in Journal of John Winthrop, 1630–1649 (Cambridge, Mass.: The 1678. Register 16 (1862):153 and 104 (1950):37. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1996), 333. 26 William John Potts, “Original Documents, 1677–1761,” Reg- 5 Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, ed., Records of the Governor and Company ister 46 (1892):172. of the Massachusetts Bay in New England (Boston: William White, 27 1853), 83. Playfair [note 2], 129–130. 28 6 Stephen T. Riley, “Abraham Browne’s Captivity by the Barbary Harris [note 19], 322. Pirates, 1655,” in Philip C. F. Smith, ed., Seafaring in Colonial 29 Harris [note 19], 323–324. Massachusetts, Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Publications, 30 Harris [note 19], 333–334. vol. 52 (1980), 31–42. 31 Suffolk Deeds, vol. 12 (Boston: Rockwell & Churchill, 1902), 7 Roger Thompson. From Deference to Defiance: Charlestown, 229–230. Massachusetts 1629–1692. (Boston: NEHGS, 2012), 244–246. 32 Suffolk Deeds [note 31], 130–131. 8 A list of ships taken since July, 1677 [note 1]. 33 Records of the First Church at Dorchester 1636–1734. (Boston: 9 Ibid.; and petition of Mary Litchfield to the Governor and George H. Ellis, 1891), 84. Mitchell of Malden is probably the General Court . . . 5th of March 1684/5. Massachusetts Archives Thomas Mitchell on board the Rose who was ransomed in 1681 Collection, vol. 9:113. by William Bowtell. Also Scull [note 12], 385. 10 Petition by Thomas Jenner etc. in behalf of Benjamin Mirick 34 Thompson [note 7], 244, n.158. et. Who are in slavery (in Algiers), Suffolk Files #28417 (no 35 “Letter-book of Samuel Sewall,” in Collections of the Massachu- date), Massachusetts Archives; and Robert Charles Anderson, setts Historical Society, 6th Series, 1 (1886): 76–77. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620– 1633, volume I (Boston: NEHGS, 1995), 508. 36 “Dorchester Town Records,” in City of Boston Fourth Report of the Record Commissioners (Boston: Rockwell & Churchill, 1880), 11 A list of ships taken since July, 1677 [note 1]; Thompson [note 258. 7], 220–221. Thomas Jenner Jr. sailed to London with father Thomas Jenner Sr., but appears not to have been on the senior 37 Potts [note 26], 172; also Annie Haven Thwing, Inhabitants Jenner’s return voyage. (Communication from Roger Thomp- and Estates of Boston 1630–1800 [CD] (Boston: NEHGS and son.) Massachusetts Historical Society, 2001), Mary Litchfield entry. 12 G. D. Scull, “Notes and Letters Relating to Early New Eng- 38 “Diary of Samuel Sewall: 1674–1729,” vol. 3, in Collections of land,” New England Historical and Genealogical Register 38 (1884): the Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. 7, 5th series (Boston: the 384–385. Society, 1882), 32. 13 A list of ships taken since July, 1677 [note 1]; and Scull [note 39 John R. Totten, Thacher-Thatcher Genealogy (New York: New 12], 384–385. York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 1910), 144–147. 14 A list of ships taken since July, 1677 [note 1]; and Joshua Gee, 40 Playfair [note 2], 165. A Narrative of Joshua Gee of Boston, Mass. While he was captive in 41 “Letter-book of Samuel Sewall” [note 35], 278–279. AlsoRec- Algeria of the Barbary pirates 1680–1687 (Hartford, Conn.: Wad- ords of the First Church at Dorchester 1636–1734 [note 33], 107. sworth Athenaeum, 1943). 42 After the American Revolution, the Barbary pirates fought 15 John William Harman, Harman-Harmon Genealogy and Biogra- two wars with the new United States of America between 1784 phy (Parsons, W. Va.: the author, 1928), 23–24. and 1815. Robert J. Allison, The Crescent Obscured: The United 16 Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana, vol. 2 (1702; States and the Muslim World, 1776–1815 (New York: Oxford repr. Hartford: S. Andrus and Son, 1853), 352–354. Viewed on University Press, 1995). Google Books. 17 Gee, Narrative [note 14], 16. Beth A. Bower is an administrator at Salem State 18 Gee, Narrative [note 14], 28. University and a public historian. She can be reached at 19 “Harris Papers,” Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, [email protected]. 10 (1902), 327–328. 20 Gee, Narrative [note 14], 16.

24 American Ancestors Spring 2012 From Family Myth to Historical Account: The McMillan Incident in 1814 Detroit

by Patricia Dingwall Thompson

almost didn’t reply to the query I posted by Charles McMillan of Missouri on Genealogy.com’s Genforum several years ago. I noticed the posting as I prepared for a class I was unexpectedly teaching on beginning genealogy. The query requested information on an Alexander McMillan (1809–1881) of St. Joseph County, Indiana. For sixteen years, I had researched three McMillen[1] families who had settled match for this Archibald. in New Boston, New Hampshire, The manuscript, written before 1760. Because the families sometime between 1904 had been incorrectly intermingled and 1909, offered a win- in an 1864 town history, I had col- dow into the eighteenth lected information on all local and early nineteenth cen- McMillens to sort them into the turies, and was filled with correct families and then follow vignettes about a family I their descendants as far as possible. I had researched over the hoped to find a connection among years. While gathering the original three McMillen settlers. data from wills, probate Although the writer of the query records, and deeds, I never wasn’t aware of it, I knew he was dreamed I would en- a descendant of Deacon Archibald counter such remarkable McMillen (1728–1796), who had family stories. fought at the Battle of Bunker Sophia included one Hill. The writer didn’t belong to account which seemed my branch of the family, but I just to me to be the stuff of couldn’t let it go. I had the answers he family myths, about an was seeking, so I answered the query. unnamed son of Deacon In return, he sent me an account of Archibald McMillen, no Archibald’s family stories, handwrit- location specified: ten by Sophia McMillan Witcheman (1843–1909), a In later years that is during the war of 1812 Dr. Alexr great-granddaughter of Archibald, as told to her by McMillan (GrFather) and many of his Family & kin her maiden aunt, one of Archibald’s granddaughters, suffered much at the hands of the British & their Alies Mary Campbell McMillan (1799–1887). New to sympathizers Tories and Indians who were hired by genealogy and hampered by the cramped handwriting British to do the dirty work. GrFather’s [unnamed] of the manuscript, Charles had not researched the Brother being scalped by Indians & his 12 yr Old [son New Boston, New Hampshire, area for a potential Archibald] taken captive & kept a year, when their Above: “Detroit River and Vicinity.” Benson J. Lossing, The Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812 (1869), 266.

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 25 wherabouts was discovered by the Union Fedralists Upper Canada, he and son Archie had walked to the who demanded at the point of Bayonets of other Tories common to retrieve their cows. Eyewitnesses saw shots & Indian acomplices that they bring little McMillan into camp or they would all be dead men. The Boy fired as the two neared the bushes, and Ananias fell Archibald McM afterward lived at Jackson Mich where and was immediately scalped. Archie ran back but was an Uncle of mine visited him many years ago, he said seized by a rider on horseback before reaching safety, tales of the treatment of his Father & himself were both and taken to the Saginaw area, about a hundred miles thrilling & Interesting. One was that his Indian Captors away. Townsmen armed themselves and searched for & himself lived 6 weeks on the scalp Bounty paid them Archie to no avail. Witherell related that after several by the British, his Father being a Federal Officer his months, a local military captain took three relatives [2] Scalp was considered more valuable. of Archie’s captors hostage, and sent a representative About a year later, Ron Benson from Florida wrote to Saginaw to negotiate an exchange. Archie was asking about a possible connection to some McMillans returned to his mother on January 12, 1815, and in Canada, but none of the data I had collected on New “delivered as one from the dead.” Boston McMillens and their descendants suggested I was pleased to confirm the essential details of a link to Canada. Then I noticed Mr. Benson men- Sophia’s story. However, Mr. Witherell wrote almost tioned that his great-great-great-grandfather, Ananias forty years after the event, and I wondered if an earlier McMillan, had been killed by Indians in Detroit in account could be found. At first it seemed unlikely. I 1814. I thought of Sophia’s account. Was it possible checked with various libraries in the Detroit area, and this Ananias McMillan was the main character in the found that their earliest Detroit newspaper holdings story I had assumed to be a family myth? I knew there begin in 1817 — two years too late. Then it occurred were unidentified males in the 1790 enumeration of to me that such a dramatic story might have been Deacon Archibald McMillen’s household.[3] Could picked up by eastern newspapers. I consulted the “Early one of those men have been the scalped “GrFather’s American Newspapers, Series I 1690–1876” database, Brother” from Sophia’s account? available to NEHGS members on AmericanAncestors. Responding to Ron Benson’s email, I asked if he org, and searched for “McMillan” in 1814 and 1815. knew whether a son of the murdered man had been Of eighteen hits, three were relevant. On December captured at the same time. To my amazement, he sent 6, 1815, the Commercial Advertiser of New York, New me an account from Landmarks of Wayne County and York, ran the story, datelined Detroit, Nov. 2, 1815, Detroit (1898), which recounted the killing and scalp- which began “An affair took place at this post in the ing of Ananias McMillen on 15 September 1814, and month of December, 1814, in regard to the hostile sav- the simultaneous kidnapping of his eleven-year-old ages, which deserves to be recorded.” (Other newspa- son Archibald. “Archie, after four months’ captivity, was pers also printed the story.) brought on January 12, 1815, to Amherstburg [across In this lengthy article — about 1,200 words — the the river from Detroit] . . . and restored to his frantic details about Ananias’s death and Archie’s capture gen- mother. . . . Archie died at Jackson, Mich., in 1860.”[4] erally matched later retellings. (No date was given — In 1814, farmer Ananias McMillan lived in Detroit only that the incident occurred in the autumn.) The with his wife, Mary “Polly” (Kilborne), and children newspaper account, however, focused on the events Sarah “Sally,” Archibald, Persis, Joseph, and Ananias, that led to the boy’s redemption, and differed from later Jr.[5] Further research led to more details about this accounts. In this version, no word of Archie was received story, as recalled by settler B.P.H. Witherell; his until late December of 1814, when the band of about account, written in 1853, was published in 1908 by the 100 Native Americans holding him ran short of food. Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society.[6] According As they had been hostile to the American cause in the to Witherell, Ananias belonged to Capt. Andrew recent war, they couldn’t expect provisions from them Westbrook’s American company of rangers. With the and “determined to bring with them little McMillan, in British having retreated from Detroit only a year earli- hopes by this means of being fed throughout the win- er, tensions were high between the Americans and the ter.” The group stopped about two miles from Detroit allied British and Native Americans. “The Indians were at the home of an Indian interpreter, and Archie was sent constantly beleaguering the town, sallying out occa- to the area’s commanding officer, Harris H. Hickman. sionally and driving off and killing all the cattle, etc., Archie provided details about his father’s killing and that approached the bushes.” On September 10, 1814, his own captivity, and said that two of his father’s kill- the day after Ananias McMillan had returned from an ers were with the group. Returning to the house, the expedition — likely a raiding party — to Rondo in two men identified by Archie, plus three others, were

26 American Ancestors Spring 2012 Notes marked as hostages to ensure the group’s good behavior. At this selection, the interpreters heard threats to kidnap 1 The surname is spelled the American officers and the captain quietly ordered “McMillen” in most that a detachment of 100 regulars from the garrison sur- New Hampshire documents. Other descendants round the house, an action completed “with astonishing use “McMillan.” The names dispatch and secrecy.” When the soldiers were in place, of some people are spelled Captain Hickman announced he wished to make a both ways in different doc- speech. The captain then led some of the group outside uments. I have tried to use and pointed to the charged bayonets, saying, “There is the spelling found most fre- my speech.” The mood changed quickly, and the five quently for each person. hostages were placed under guard and sent to be con- 2 Sophia McMillan Witche- fined in town. The remainder of the group was told to man, handwritten manuscript in the possession of leave the next day, and warned that their future actions Charles McMillan of Mis- could bring retaliation upon the detained men. “The souri. group received some provisions, departed, and were not 3 Archibald McMillen heard of afterwards; and no hostile act on the part of household, 1790 census, the savages, was afterwards committed in this territory New Boston, Hillsbor- during the war.” ough, New Hampshire; roll This early account placed the incident in context M637_5; p. 275; viewed on and described the reverberations of the attack on the Ancestry.com. McMillans. Sophia’s account had been proved by a 4 Robert B. Ross and detailed and dramatic contemporary source, and I George B. Catlin, Landmarks could now trace the tale’s evolution over nearly a cen- of Wayne County and De- tury, in both a family manuscript and printed accounts. troit (Detroit: The Evening News Association, 1898), Sophia had noted that Archibald had died in Jackson, 352, 354. The story is also Michigan, perhaps indicating that their families had recounted in lesser detail The newspaper account that appeared in kept in contact. The 1850 and 1860 censuses cor- in Clarence M. Burton et the December 5, 1815, Commercial roborate her account and show Archibald McMillan al., eds., The City of Detroit, Advertiser. Viewed on the Early living there with his wife Sophronia and their children Michigan, 1701–1922 (De- American Newspapers, Series I, database Desdemona, Archibald, Sephronia, John, Elenor, and troit: S. J. Clarke Publish- on AmericanAncestors.org. [7] ing Company, 1922), 1388; Elmira. in “Reminiscences of the I always tell my genealogy students that my favor Northwest by B.P.H. Witherell, VII—Incidents, 1807–1814,” ite saying is “Genealogy without documentation is Third Annual Report and Collections of the State Historical Society mythology,” and I emphasize the need to research of Wisconsin, for the Year 1856, vol. III (Madison: Wisconsin His- all family lines as extensively as possible. Beginners, torical Society, 1857), 297, 319–325; and in Friend Palmer, Early especially, tend to focus on only their own ancestors. Days in Detroit (Detroit: Hunt and June, 1906), 19–22. But I remind them that in addition to finding records 5 Burton et al. [note 4], 1388. of the family’s movements and life events, collecting 6 Collections and Researches Made by the Michigan Pioneer and information on collateral relatives and putting it on Historical Society, vol. 13 (Lansing, Mich.: Wynkoop Hallenbeck the Internet can help connect them with other fam- Crawford Co., 1908), 502, 504–505, 507. ily historians who just may have something wonderful 7 Archibald McMillen household, 1850 census, Jackson, Jackson, to share. I also emphasize that we never know who is Michigan; roll M432_352; p. 332A; viewed on Ancestry.com; and out there with “the good stuff.” Living in Montana, Archibald McMillen household, 1860 census, Jackson Ward 4, I connected with a man in Missouri who owns a Jackson, Michigan; roll M653_547; p. 147. handwritten family account of events that occurred in Michigan. I then found historical corroboration Patricia Dingwall Thompson is a thirty-eight-year from a man in Florida, the Bentley Historical Library career high school English teacher who retired last year to at the University of Michigan, and a database supplied devote her time to her passion for genealogy. She has published by NEHGS in Boston. Only the Internet could have several articles on the New Boston, New Hampshire, set this remarkable chain of events in motion, turning McMillen lines, as well as genealogical research in general. family myth into documented family history.  She would like to thank Charles McMillan and Ron Benson for their contributions in bringing the pieces of this story together. Visit her website at genealogywriter.com.

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 27 The Path to Edward Bird A Story of Identity, Assimilation, and Discovery

by Michael F. Dwyer

uriosity about the ancestry of one of my high Bird and his wife, Mary, in St. Mary’s Cemetery, in Cschool students set me on an investigation that Brandon, Vermont, troubled me for two reasons. lasted two decades. During a parent-teacher confer- While the stone bore Edward Bird’s name and dates, ence in 1991, I speculated with the student’s mother 1829–1908, only Mary’s year of birth, 1828, was given. that we might be related through her maiden name, Why was her death date omitted? Any speculation that Bird. Perhaps my seventeenth-century Dorchester, Mary died elsewhere ended when I found her death Massachusetts, Bird ancestors were related to her certificate, which showed that she died in Brandon, Massachusetts-born grandfather who later moved on 7 December 1910, two years after her husband.[1] to Vermont. This initial hunch proved to be wrong Furthermore, Edward and Mary had six children, three because among the various Bird families of Vermont, of whom lived in Brandon — but, oddly, none of their some traced their origins to Ireland, and others to offspring were buried in the cemetery. The informant Canada. But over time, as other descendants of this for Edward’s death certificate, from the adjoining town same extended family became my students and ex- of Sudbury, Vermont, was Lottie (Goodrich) Bird, his pressed curiosity about their origins, I began to assem- granddaughter-in-law,[2] who stated that Edward was ble disparate pieces of information that led back five born in Canada on 14 October 1829, the son of Joseph generations to Edward Bird, a Civil War veteran who Bird and Ersalla Gellane, both born in Montréal.[3] lived in Rutland County, Vermont, for at least the last Was Lottie, who was not of French-Canadian ances- forty years of his life. His death certificate listed Canada try, correct in her assertions? Gellane may have rep- as his birthplace. Among the rumors of Edward’s ori- resented a rough equivalent of a name she had only gins was the possibility of Native American ancestry. heard. Edward Bird’s full name sounded so thoroughly Three essential questions would guide my research: English — but was that his name at birth? Perhaps his exactly who were Edward Bird’s parents, where was he surname was a direct translation of the name Loiseau born, and why did he settle in Vermont? (Bird). No record, however, was found for a child baptized as Edouard Bird or Loiseau in greater Montréal, Finding Edward Bird’s Origins nor did I find a probable match to the names of his The investigation worked backwards from Edward’s alleged parents. death in 1908. What better place to start than the cem- Since Edward and Mary Bird had been married etery? The plain yet substantial gravestone of Edward for more than sixty years at the time of Edward’s

Above: Sainte-Famille Church (1801), Boucherville, Quebec, Canada. Courtesy of Bernard Gagnon, Wikimedia Commons.

28 American Ancestors Spring 2012 death, I hoped that locating them in census records from 1850 to 1900 might provide some clues to their extended family. After marrying in Vermont in 1847, the couple moved to Auburn, Massachusetts, by 1850, and to Putnam, Washington County, New York, by 1860.[4] By 1864, Edward and Mary had returned to Vermont, where they remained for the rest of their lives. Two census enumerations raised puzzling questions. In 1860, why did Edward and Mary’s eldest son, twelve-year-old Edward, born in Vermont, live in the household of blacksmith Lewis Casavaw and his wife Sophia in Hubbardton, Vermont?[5] Later, this same Lewis Casavaugh, age eighty, appears in Edward and Mary’s household in the 1880 census for Sudbury, Vermont, and is listed as Edward’s “father-by-law.”[6] A seemingly clear family relationship was, in fact, prob- lematic because at the time of her marriage to Edward, Mary’s surname was recorded as Audet, and listed as Lapoint[7] on her death certificate, offering no association with the name Casavaw. Perhaps Sophia Casavaw was Mary Bird’s mother and Lewis Casavaw her step- father. I hoped that probing where and when Edward and Mary married might answer these questions. Edward Bird and Mary Audet were married in Benson, Vermont, on 28 August 1847, by Rev. Azariah Hyde, longtime minister of Benson’s Congregational Church.[8] If we assume that the bride and groom had both been baptized as Catholics in Québec, they broke with the expected norm in not being married by a priest. More compellingly, why were Edward and Mary living in Benson at ages seventeen and eighteen? It was unlikely they would have live in rural Vermont without other family members. Vermont’s 1840 census had no nearby heads of household named Bird/Loiseau F. W. Beers, Atlas of Rutland County, Vermont (1869), p. 39. or Audet/Lapointe, but Lewis Casavaw was a head of The properties of “E Bird” and “L. Casaboise” are marked in the household in Benson.[9] The similarity to Audet caused upper left corner. me to notice the Benson marriage of Toussaint Odet to Emilie Croto on 16 January 1847.[10] Conjecturing Locating Lewis in the 1850 census proved more diffi- that Toussaint Odet might be Mary’s brother led me cult. Searching under Sophia, born Canada, circa 1800, to search for these two children born in Québec to led to the discovery of this household in Worcester, the same parents circa 1825 to 1830. Indeed, two Massachusetts: Leander Caswell, age 47, blacksmith, children born to Toussaint Audet dit Lapointe and born Canada; Sophia, age 49, born Canada; and Sophia, Ursule Quintin dit Dubois, baptized at St-Mathieu, age 7, born in Vermont.[12] Was Leander Caswell Lewis Beloeil, fit the hypothesis: Toussaint Jr. born 23 May Casavaw? Caswell’s occupation, blacksmith, was the 1825, and Marie Zoé, born 4 November 1831.[11] An same as the man in Vermont, and Caswell lived only 1831 birth date fits with most census records of Mary a few miles from Edward and Mary Bird in Auburn. Bird; only at the very end of her life and on her death Would the birth of Leander’s daughter Sophie have certificate does she gain in age, to become, for the been recorded in Vermont? Searching for this child first time, a year older than Edward. These discover- produced a very interesting find: the baptism, at age ies, however, did not prove these children later married six, of Marie-Sophie Casavant, the child of Léandre in Benson, and they documented no link from Lewis Casavant, blacksmith, and his wife Sophie Galaise, Casavaw to Mary Bird. on 22 September 1848, in Longueil, Quebec.[13]

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 29 The baptismal record notes the father was living in was 32, and was seven years older than her husband, Benson, thus eliminating any doubt that Leander and Léandre Casavant. For years, the couple was childless. Sophie Caswell were Lewis and Sophia Casavaw. Now, What forces would have propelled them to immigrate with the confirmation of two specific names in their to Vermont between 1832 and 1840, and did they take native spelling, I found Léandre and Sophie’s marriage Sophie’s nephew, Antoine Loiseau, with them? The late in Boucherville, Québec, on 18 September 1832.[14] 1830s were years of tumult in Québec that culminat- Nothing indicated that Sophie had been married ed in the Rebellions of 1837–38, English and French previously to a man with the surname of Audet dit insurgencies against the British government. One of Lapointe, so Léandre Casavant could not have been the rebellion’s key players was Bonaventure Viger, from Edward Bird’s father-in-law. However, there had to be Boucherville,[18] and although no document names some connection between the two men. Léandre Casavant as a combatant, the close presence of Analyzing every possible document generated by social upheaval likely provided a context for the move Edward or Mary eventually revealed the answer. The to Vermont. Hubbardton birth record for Edward and Mary’s The lifelong bond between “Lewis Casavant” and youngest surviving son, Leander Bird, on 19 April Edward Bird is noteworthy. Late in their lives, on 8 1864,[15] cites the father’s birthplace as “Bushnellville, October 1878, Lewis and Sophia Casavau executed a Canada.” Was Bushnellville Boucherville, the town deed in Hubbardton that stated for the sum of $600, where Léandre Casavant and Sophie Galaise were mar- they would bequeath all their property to Edward ried? Just ten miles northeast of Montréal, Boucherville Bird provided that Edward care for them for the rest fit with the remembered approximate geography. The of their lives and provide suitable burial markers.[19] surname Galaise could have been garbled as Gellane. Given Sophie’s absence in the 1880 census and Lewis’s Searching the town’s Sainte Famille parish register designation as a widower, she likely died in 1879 or produced the marriage of Jean-Baptiste Loiseau and 1880. The above deed was not actually recorded until Anastasie Galaise, on 7 November 1826.[16] Anastasie 6 February 1885, probably close to Lewis’s death date. was the sister of Sophie, who married Léandre The deaths of Lewis and Sophia were not recorded Casavant. Twelve children of Jean-Baptiste Loiseau and at the town level, and if Edward did provide burial Anastasie Galaise were baptized and recorded in the markers, they have not survived. All these connections parish register from 1827 and 1853, but no Edward point to Antoine Loiseau’s becoming Edward Bird in (Edouard) was among them. Near the end of his life, the same way that Léandre Casavant became Lewis Edward Bird seems to have settled on a birth date of Caswell/Casavau(gh). 14 October 1829. The closest entry in time within the baptismal register is that of Antoine Loiseau, born and Edward Bird’s Journey to Assimilation baptized the same day, 20 November 1829.[17] While For Edward Bird, the Civil War irrevocably altered his the other eleven children of Jean-Baptiste Loiseau life. At age thirty-four, he accepted a bounty of $500 and Anastasie Galaise remained in Boucherville, with seven marrying in the parish church, nothing further has been found for Antoine. The Sainte- Famille register scrupu- lously records the burials of children so the child probably did not die in infancy. Did Antoine become Edward? This hypothesis seemed even more plausible since Antoine’s godmother, un- married at this time, was Sophie Galaise. Unusually, Sophie married when she Edward Bird’s Civil War sword. Courtesy of Wenda Bird, Edward’s great-great-granddaughter.

30 American Ancestors Spring 2012 offered by the town of Hubbardton to fill the town’s “Perhaps the single most telling quota of soldiers. Such a gesture was not without con- troversy, as Abby Maria Hemingway observed in her confirmation of Edward and Mary’s Vermont Gazetteer: “Whether the sum was too large assimilation is that none of their children or too small, let those who have borne the gun and knapsack under a southern sky, as well those who paid were baptized in infancy as Catholics.” it reply. But its principle was unjust and its practice dangerous.”[20] After citing the names of those soldiers who accepted the bounty, Hemingway wrote that tury, when numbers of French-Canadians were higher, most of the soldiers who accepted the bounty were their identity and place in the community might have “of humble origin and moving in the lower walks of been very different. I expected to find that Edward and life.”[21] Shortly after Edward’s enlistment, in December Mary, as Québec immigrants, would have had stronger 1864, Mary Bird bought their farm in Hubbardton, bonds with other Francophone immigrants, but no in a settlement known as Hortonville.[22] This bounty evidence indicates that they attempted to retain a money, more than Edward ever could have earned as French-Canadian identity. To the Catholic Church, a day laborer, indeed transformed the life of his fam- their Protestant marriage would not have been consid- ily and provided stability; the gamble, of course, was ered legitimate. Perhaps the single most telling confir- that Edward would have to survive the Civil War, and mation of Edward and Mary’s assimilation is that none he obviously did. Edward enlisted in Company F, of of their children were baptized in infancy as Catholics. the Fifth Vermont Infantry, on 16 August 1864 and As emigration from Québec increased, denunciation mustered out on 19 June 1865.[23] In that final year from Québec nationalists and the clerical hierarchy of the war, the Vermont Fifth fought in Virginia at the increased in virulence: those who left were called Wilderness, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg, and defend- cowards, deserters, and renegades, and the United ed Washington, D.C. Years later, Edward recollected his States was a “vast Sodom.”[26] Some couples who had experience: “Overcome by heat or sunstroke . . . [he] married outside the Catholic Church would later had to fall out of the ranks, and he thinks if he had have their marriages “rehabilitated,” or their children not his canteen with water to wet his head, he thinks baptized at a later date, as in the case of six-year-old he should have stayed there as 13 of their brigade died Sophie Casavant, but not Edward and Mary.[27] Mary with sunstroke that day.”[24] and Edward’s decision to shed Catholicism seems like- After the war, Edward and Mary remained in ly to have been based on more than simply the incon- Hortonville, their property adjacent to that of Lewis venience of having to travel to find a Catholic church. Casavaw, and extending over the town line into When their daughter Zoé was born in Auburn, the Sudbury. Without moving, Edward was enumerated couple could have brought her to be baptized at the in Hubbardton for the 1870 census but counted in Catholic Church in Worcester, just a few miles away, but Sudbury in 1880 and 1900. By 1892, Edward applied did not. When this same daughter became the first of for a Civil War disability pension: the standards were the children to marry a Francophone, her marriage oc- quite rigorous, and the examining physicians had to curred at the Hubbardton Congregational Church.[28] determine that Edward’s ailments were not from In fact, only one of Edward and Mary’s children, Eris/ “mean or vicious habits.” Thus, the cumulative effects Aras, was married by a Catholic priest, probably out of Edward’s rheumatism, injured foot, hernia, and deep of deference to his wife, the child of French-Canadian wound from a saw mill accident earned Edward a pen- immigrants.[29] Perhaps later in life, Edward felt some sion, retroactive to 8 August 1890 at the rate of $8 per ambivalence about his lapsed Catholicism. For proof month. Neighbors Cyrus Jennings, Charles Morgan, of his marriage in his pension application, Edward and James Hall all attested to Edward’s good character, claimed he was married by the “preste francese” and John Roberts, who had known Edward for twenty- (French priest), which was not true. As baptized eight years, stated, “I have heard him complain of being Catholics, Edward and Mary could be buried in lame from time to time the cause resulting from getting consecrated ground, but that privilege would not be hurt while doing duty in Co. F, 5th Vt. Vols. while his extended to their children, who were not baptized regiment was a Petersburg, Va. War of 1861.”[25] Catholics. The fact that the couple’s burial plot in St. Edward and Mary’s migration falls within the first Mary’s Catholic Cemetery was only a two-grave lot significant wave of Québec emigration to Vermont, but now makes sense.[30] No descendant put Mary’s death had the couple migrated later in the nineteenth cen-

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 31 11 date on the stone, perhaps because none of them felt Baptisms, St-Mathieu, Beloeil, Drouin Collection connected to that church. 12 Leander Caswell household, 1850 U.S. Census, Worcester, Many aspects of the life of Antoine Loiseau/Edward Ward 1, Worcester Co., Mass.; roll M432_342; p. 114B; viewed Bird conform to the American immigration experi- at Ancestry.com. ence. Propelled by economic and social forces to emi- 13 Baptism of Marie-Sophie Casavant, Saint Antoine de Padou, grate, Edward worked at a subsistence level for two Longueuil, Quebec. decades before he chose to enlist as a Vermont soldier. 14 Marriages, Boucherville, Quebec. Leandre Casavant/Sophie His Civil War service provided the capital for him to Galaise. be a property owner and then later provided a modi- 15 Birth record, Hubbardton, Vt. cum of financial security for his old age. Edward’s 16 Marriage of Jean-Baptiste Loiseau/Anastasie Galaise, metamorphosis began when he crossed the border in Boucherville, Québec. the 1840s. At eighteen, he married not as a Loiseau 17 Sainte Famille parish registers; viewed at Ancestry.com. but as a Bird, and he remained faithful to that iden- 18 tity for the rest of his life. Only a few hours by rail Alain Messier, Dictionnaire Encyclopédique et Histoire des Patriots from his roots in Boucherville, Québec, he could 1837–1838 (Montréal: Guérin, 2006), 478. have maintained family ties, but no evidence suggests 19 Hubbardton, Vt., Deeds, Book 9:444. that Edward ever returned northward. In the summer 20 Abby Maria Hemingway, The Vermont Historical Gazetteer, that the United States celebrated the centennial of its volume III (Claremont, N.H.: Claremont Manufacturing Co., independence, Edward Bird, an alien and “Frenchman,” 1877), 774. became an American citizen on 31 August 1876.[31] 21 Ibid., p. 773. That action, in a year infused with patriotic fervor, 22 Hubbardton, Vt., Deeds, Book 8:301. completed Edward Bird’s immigrant journey.  23 Civil War pension, Edward Bird, Cert. #758083. Notes 24 Edward Bird pension, testimony received 21 May 1900. 1 Death certificate of Mary (Lapoint) Bird, Brandon, Vt. Parents 25 Ibid. not named. In 1910, Mary Bird resided in the household of her 26 son William Bird in Brandon. The census indicates she came to Yves Roby, Les Francos-Americains de la Nouvelle Angleterre the U.S. in 1846. (Sillery, Québec: Septentrion, 1990), 39. 27 2 Lottie Goodrich, daughter of Judson and Alice (Fairman) No record has been found for Sophie Casavant/Caswell after Goodrich, married Arthur Bird in 1903 in Hubbardton, Vt. 1850. She probably died in childhood. 28 3 Death certificate of Edward Bird, Sudbury, Vt. Marriage certificate, Mary Bird, John Fredett, Hubbardton, Vt. 29 4 Edward Bird household, 1860 U.S. Census, Putnam, Washing- Marriage certificate, Orwell, Vt. His name was recorded as ton Co., N.Y.; roll M653_874; p. 181; viewed at Ancestry.com. Edwin Bird. 30 5 Lewis Casewa household, 1860 U.S. Census, Hubbardton, Cemetery records kept by Miller-Ketcham Funeral Home, Rutland Co., Vt.; roll M653_1326; p. 160; viewed at Ancestry.com. Brandon, Vt. 31 6 Edward Bird household, 1880 U.S. Census, Sudbury, Rutland Naturalization record, Rutland City Court, Rutland, Vt., vol. Co., Vt.; roll 1348; p. 433A; enumeration district 195; viewed 2, page 107 ½. at Ancestry.com. The census taker used the term by-law instead of in-law. Michael F. Dwyer’s articles have been published in 7 Death certificate of Mary (Lapoint) Bird, Brandon, Vt. The full The New England Historical Genealogical Register, surname is Audet dit Lapointe; some family members chose to Rhode Island Roots, and The Maine Genealogist. He use only one part of the name. chairs the English Department of Otter Valley Union High 8 Marriage certificate, Hubbardton, Vt. School in Brandon, Vermont, where he continues to teach the descendants of Edward Bird. He may be contacted at 9 Lewis Casavah household, 1840 Census, Benson, Rutland Co., Vt.; roll 545; p. 24; viewed at Ancestry.com. [email protected]. Michael wishes to thank Susan L. Valley for her assistance with Québec resources. 10 Marriage record, Benson, Vt. Odet/Odit is a phonetic ren- dering of Audet.

32 American Ancestors Spring 2012 Weighing the Evidence

by Henry B. Hoff

uch has been written about genealogical children are born in England and have common first Mproof, and the Board for Certification of names, you have only a possible match — and you will Genealogists has devised a Genealogical Proof Standard need other evidence to make a definite match. But if (see sidebar on page 34). Nevertheless, since every ge- you have, say, four children and the names and ages nealogist is different and every genealogical situation is agree, then you may have a definite match, especially if different, there are still many instances when genealo- a will names the children in order.[4] gists disagree on whether to categorize an identifica- One of the traditional ways of identifying an im- tion or a connection as definite — or with a modify- migrant is referring to an English will specifying that ing word such as probably, likely, perhaps, or possibly. a particular beneficiary is living in New England. This, In this article I present some typical genealogical sit- however, requires that every contemporary of that uations in which genealogists often disagree, and then name in New England must be considered. Sometimes give examples for you, the readers, to decide upon.[1] that process is easy,[5] but sometimes the wrong person has been misidentified for decades.[6] Identifying immigrants What does it take to convince you, for example, that Identifying persons of the same name a man who arrived in America in the colonial period Frequently at least two people of the same name are in is identical with a person of that name in England? In the same place at the same time. If you are lucky, they a 2005 article I described several research methods for were carefully identified — but often they were not. finding English origins,[2] and typically identifying an Sometimes a family favors a particular first name, and English (and European) immigrant involves more than articles have dealt with two, twelve, and even twenty- one method. one men of the same name in a family (though not all In 2008 an article on Thomas Betterly appeared in living at the same time).[7] Identification problems are the Register.[3] Thomas immigrated to North Carolina not always fully solved,[8] but such articles pave the way by 1715, married in Boston in 1720, and returned for future researchers. to North Carolina, where he died in 1729. He was a Just as frequently two or three women with the feltmaker in North Carolina, and a Thomas Betterley same name pose identification problems. In the 1690s was apprenticed as a feltmaker in 1701 in London. two women named Mary Loomis were married in The article reproduces the 1710 signature of a Thomas Windsor, Connecticut. One married John Buell on Betterley in London and compares it to his signa- 20 November 1695, the other married Ebenezer tures in North Carolina. The authors point out that Dibble on 16 July 1696. Three potentially relevant Betterley was a “very uncommon surname.” women named Mary Loomis were born, on 20 March How would you decide? Definite, probable, or something 1672/3, 14 December 1677, and 5 January 1679/80. else? While there are two accounts of the Loomis fam- Many Register articles have treated seventeenth- ily of Windsor, neither is satisfactory, and neither century immigrants to New England who came with gives a rationale for assigning which Mary to which children. If the names and approximate ages of the husband.[9] According to her gravestone, Mary children in England match those in America, a definite (Loomis) Buell died 4 November 1768, aged 90;[10] identification can often be made. If only one or two her last child was born 22 May 1723.[11] These two

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 33 pieces of information show that Mary (Loomis) Buell The Genealogical Proof Standard was the Mary born 14 December 1677, or less likely, Meeting the Genealogical Proof Standard is a the youngest Mary (who is consistently identified as five-step process: the Mary Loomis who married in Windsor 6 May 1708 Joseph Barber). • We conduct a reasonably exhaustive search in What would you decide for the identification of Mrs. Buell, reliable sources for all information that is or may based on this information? be pertinent to the identity, relationship, event, or situation in question; When there is no other family with that surname • We collect and include in our compilation A unique surname is helpful, but often it does not a complete, accurate citation to the source or solve all problems. William Whitredge or Whittered, sources of each item of information we use; whose surname appears to be unique in colonial New England, immigrated to Massachusetts in 1635 with • We analyze and correlate the collected informa- wife Elizabeth and son Thomas.[12] William had other tion to assess its quality as evidence; children born in Essex County, including sons John • We resolve any conflicts caused by items of evi- and Samuel. Were John and Samuel both killed in dence that contradict each other or are contrary King Philip’s War? On 18 July 1676 in Salem, “John to a proposed (hypothetical) solution to the Whitterig, being slain in the war against the Indians, question; and dying intestate, administration was granted to John • We arrive at a soundly reasoned, coherently Baxter” [who had married Abigail Whitredge]. A John written conclusion. Whitredge died 19 May 1676 in Massachusetts during King Philip’s War. from The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual On the other hand, less evidence is available for (Washington, D.C.: Board for Certification of Samuel Whitredge. He was living in 1672 when men- Genealogists, 2000), 1–2. tioned in his brother Thomas’s will, and a Samuel Whitredge died 18 September 1675 in Massachusetts formative. There were other families named Flint in during King Philip’s War. Massachusetts, but only in Salem.[15] Was William’s son John the John Whitredge who died in Could Anna (Flint) Dwight be a daughter of Thomas 1676? Was William’s son Samuel the Samuel Whitredge Flint of Concord? What would you decide? who died in 1675? What would you decide? Putting the pieces together Proving military service Frequently articles involve putting several arguments As demonstrated by the preceding section, assignment together to reach a conclusion. A good example of this of military service to a particular man is often unclear. is a 2009 article proving a father-son relationship in Sometimes the records themselves are the problem. Wilmington, North Carolina. The author presented A 2009 article showed that military files for South seven different arguments supporting the father-son Carolina had placed papers for different Revolutionary relationship and, with reference to the Genealogical War soldiers named Jonathan Turner in a single file, Proof Standard, concluded that “[e]ven without direct and that “derivative sources had merged the identities evidence, the case is overwhelming.”[16] of three Jonathans.”[13] But rarely is genealogical evidence overwhelming, and frequently we have to use careful language and Proving the parents of a wife words beginning with the letter P, such as probably, per- A typical genealogical problem is whether the wife of haps, and possibly. You be the judge of when and how so-and-so was the daughter of a known couple. Anna to use them in your own research.  Flint married Timothy Dwight on 9 January 1664/5 in Dedham. Several sources identify her as Hannah Notes Flint, born in Braintree 7 January 1643/4, daughter of 1 For further opportunities to weigh the evidence, see the Rev. Henry Flint. However, Hannah Flint married in series “Enigmas” in The American Genealogist since April 1991, Braintree 15 November 1662 John Dassett, who lived as well as many of the articles in genealogical journals such as the Register. until 1699.[14] Rev. Henry Flint had a brother, Thomas Flint of Concord (died 1653), whose children have not 2 Henry B. Hoff, “Methods for Identifying the English Ori- been fully identified, largely because his will is unin- gins of American Colonists,” New England Ancestors 6:5–6 (Holiday 2005):31–32. (continued on page 41)

34 American Ancestors Spring 2012 Was Susanna (Boylston) Adams Illiterate? by Harry Faulkner

omparatively little is known about Susanna In 1711 the citizens of Brookline voted to allow C(Boylston) Adams (1708–1797), the mother of private individuals to erect two new schoolhouses (in President John Adams (1735–1826). Even so, I was sur- addition to one already built) and “maintain a good prised by this passage in David McCullough’s Pulitzer school dame half of the year at each house.”[8] “Once Prize-winning biography John Adams: towns funded school dames, we can be confident that [9] Nothing written in her own hand would survive—no little girls as well as boys were admitted.” By the time letters, diaries, or legal papers with her signature—nor Susanna was about seven years old, each of the town’s any correspondence addressed to her by any of her three precincts had its own schoolhouse supported by family, and so, since it is known that letters were fre- a combination of public and private resources.[10] quently read aloud to her, there is reason to believe that Legal documents, such as wills and deeds, are an Susanna Boylston Adams was illiterate.[1] important source of evidence for women’s literacy. Scholars have examined these documents to compare In a March 13, 2002, address to the American the proportion of those people who signed by form- Academy of Arts and Sciences, McCullough reiter- ing the letters of their name (“signature literacy”) with ated his view that John Adams’s mother “was almost those who could only make their mark, which was as certainly illiterate.”[2] However, an investigation into legally valid. Because reading was taught before writ- this question has uncovered conclusive evidence, both ing, a signature implied at least a rudimentary level circumstantial and from primary sources, that Susanna of both literacy skills. The rate of “signature literacy” could read and write. among white females in early eighteenth-century New Susanna was born on March 5, 1708/9, in Brookline, England has been estimated by scholars at 45 percent Massachusetts. Her parents, Peter and Ann (White) — as not all people who could read learned to write.[11] Boylston, came from prominent local families and were Social class was an important determining factor. members of the Congregational church.[3] Many of Susanna was at least “signature literate.” On March 1, the men in the White family graduated from Harvard 1733/4, she signed her name as a witness to the College.[4] Peter’s father and brother were physicians, last will and testament of her future father-in-law, and his youngest brother was a wealthy merchant and Joseph Adams, Jr. The original will, preserved at the philanthropist. Because parental literacy is a key fac- Massachusetts State Archives, clearly shows Susanna tor in a child’s attaining literacy, that Peter and Ann Boylston’s signature, written in a legible and strong Boylston each signed their own wills is significant.[5] cursive hand. Joseph Adams, Jr. set his hand and seal Scholars have estimated that the rate of female read- to his will “in the presence of us the Subscribers aver ing literacy in early eighteenth-century New England Thomas Baxter, Susanna Boylstone [sic], & Richard was as high as 70 percent.[6] The principal driving force Thayer.” John Adams and Susanna were married on for New England literacy stemmed from the Puritan November 23, 1734, and Joseph lived to see the birth belief that everyone should read the Bible. A 1642 of his grandson John Adams, Jr., on October 19, 1735. Massachusetts law empowered town selectmen to levy After Joseph’s death on February 12, 1736, his will was fines to ensure that parents were teaching their chil- submitted for probate in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, dren to read. A 1647 law required all townships of fifty and on March 22, 1736, Probate Judge Hon. Josiah or more households to hire a schoolmaster to teach all Willard, Esq. attested the instrument as follows: children to “write & reade,” as “the old deluder, Satan, tried” to keep mankind from knowledge of the scrip- The foregoing will being presented for Probate by the tures.[7] Executor therein named. Thomas Baxter & Susanna Boylstone [sic] made oath that they saw Joseph Adams

Above: Susanna Boylston’s March 1, 1733/34, signature on the will of her future father-in-law, Joseph Adams, Jr. The will is held by, and photograph reproduced courtesy of, the Massachusetts State Archives.

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 35 the Subscriber to this Instrument Sign and Seal & heard 4. Abigail told John in a 1792 letter, “your Mother was him publish and declare the same to be his Last Will & well this day she has been out with me to meeting all Testament and that when he so did he was of sound dis- day, and bears the cold well. no one appears more anx- posing mind & memory according to these Deponents ious or interested in the choice of V P than she does best discerning and that they together with Richard — she sends for the Newspapers and reads them very Thayer now absent set to their hands as Witnesses thereof in Regularly.”[19] (Abigail also described Susanna as pos- the said Testators presence.[12] [Emphasis added.] sessing an “open, candid mind, with a naturally good In his Autobiography John Adams wrote that his moth- understanding.”[20]) er could read. “As my Parents were both fond of read- Comparatively few letters written by colonial ing . . . I was very early taught to read at home. . . . ”[13] American women have survived the passage of time. Historian E. Jennifer Monaghan notes, “On the Most people, especially women, had little time or rare occasions when we know who taught a child vocational need to write. Paper and ink were ex- to read at home, the mother is singled out . . . and pensive, and mail service was slow and unreli- pious mothers were particularly motivated to teach able. Susanna’s sphere of life was circumscribed to a their children to read.”[14] short distance from home, and to her roles of wife, John Adams’s diary described a quarrel between mother, and neighbor — none of which required writ- his parents that took place in 1758, shortly after he ing. Historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, in her extensive returned to live at home and start his law practice. research for Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives Susanna became upset when her husband, Deacon of Women in Northern New England, found “the archives John, in his role as town selectman, brought home two contain no female diaries written in New England be- destitute servant girls. Frustrated that she had never fore 1750 and few female letters.”[21] been able to persuade her husband to resign his office In her later years — she lived to be eighty-nine — — with all the headaches it entailed — and concerned Susanna must have needed help reading, having been about the strain the girls’ upkeep might put on the weakened by several near-fatal illnesses and suffering family finances, Susanna demanded to know what he from a chronic inflammation of the eyes.[22] Likely this planned to charge the town for the girls’ board. After painful condition was hereditary. John Jr. had com- he stubbornly refused to tell her, Susanna (who report- plained of inflamed eyes and weak vision since 1774.[23] edly had a fiery temper) angrily threatened to review The best explanation of why letters were sometimes her husband’s financial records, exclaiming, “I can read read to Susanna is that John and Abigail, because of yet.”[15] their busy lives and large extended family, often sent More evidence of Susanna’s literacy is provided in expressions of love and remembrance to many family the letters of others: members in a single letter, all or parts of which were 1. While John and his brother Peter were in Boston in intended to be shared and read aloud.[24] When Abigail 1764 undergoing the smallpox inoculation procedure was away, her letters home were often addressed to her (introduced into America in 1721 by Susanna’s uncle, sister Mary Cranch. The receipt of a letter provided a Dr. Zabdiel Boylston), John and his fiancée, Abigail reason for the family to gather to hear the latest news. Smith, exchanged letters. Abigail obviously believed McCullough notes that when Abigail wrote home her future mother-in-law could read, as she wrote to John, “Your Mama doubtless would rejoice to hear from you, if you write you may enclose to me, I will take good care of it.”[16] 2. John wrote to Abigail in 1778 that their son, John Quincy, “will write to his Grand ma [meaning Susanna, as Abigail’s mother, Elizabeth Quincy Smith, had died], to whom present, his and my most affec- tionate and dutiful Respects.”[17] 3. Abigail wrote to her sister, Mary (Smith) Cranch, in 1784, responding to a report that Susanna had com- plained about being financially dependent on her sons. The home of Deacon John and Susanna (Boylston) Adams Abigail explained, “I know Mr. Adams has written to in Quincy, Massachusetts, where their son, President John her [Susanna] desireing her to call upon the dr [Abigail’s Adams, was born in 1735. Photograph circa 1849. [18] uncle, Dr. Cotton Tufts] for what she may want.” Courtesy of the National Park Service, Adams National Historical Park. 36 American Ancestors Spring 2012 from Paris, “Her every letter was treasured and read aloud to the delight of all. When Mary [Cranch] called on Susanna, to say she had come to read Abigail’s letters to her, the old lady replied, ‘Aya, I had rather hear that she is coming home.’”[25] Susanna died in 1797, living just long enough to see her son become the second president of the United States. John grieved, “My Mother’s countenance and conversation was a source of enjoyment to me that is now dried up forever, in Quincy.”[26] Although no letters to or from Susanna have been found, one should remember the maxim that “the absence of proof is not proof of absence.” And, as presented here, references to letters written to her and about her strongly sug- The author taking a break from researching at the gest that she could read, and her signature as a wit- Massachusetts State Archives. ness on the will of Joseph Adams, Jr., proves that she could write. All this documentation, when considered 14 Monaghan, Learning to Read and Write in Colonial America with the high rate of female literacy in Massachusetts, [note 7], 43. especially among members of Susanna’s social class in 15 Butterfield, Diary and Autobiography [note 13], 1:65. Brookline, provides more than sufficient evidence to 16 L. H. Butterfield, ed., Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 1 conclude that she was literate.  (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963), 31. Abigail Smith to John Adams, 15 April 1764. Notes 17 Margaret A. Hogan and C. James Taylor, eds., My Dearest 1 David McCullough, John Adams (New York: Simon & Schus- Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams (Cambridge, Mass.: Har- ter, 2001), 30. vard University Press, 2007), 210. 2 David McCullough, “John Adams and the Good Life of the 18 Richard Alan Ryerson, ed., Adams Family Correspondence, Mind,” Records of the Academy (American Academy of Arts and vol. 6 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993), 278. Sciences) (2002), 12, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3786002. Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 15 Aug. 1785. 3 Muddy River and Brookline Records, 1634–1838 (Boston: J. E. 19 Margaret A. Hogan et al., eds., Adams Family Correspondence, Farwell & Co., 1875), 113. vol. 9 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2009), 354. Abigail Adams to John Adams, 23 Dec. 1792. 4 Thomas J. Lothrop, “John White of Watertown and Brookline, and Some of His Descendants,” The New England Historical and 20 Margaret A. Hogan et al., eds., Adams Family Correspondence, Genealogical Register 52 (1898): 421–26. vol. 10 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2011), 65. Abigail Adams to Abigail “Nabby” Adams Smith, 3 Feb. 1794. 5 Suffolk County, Mass., Probate Records, Docket #7961, vol. 36, 426–27 (will of Peter Boylston, 13 Aug. 1743) and Docket 21 Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Good Wives: Image and Reality in the #15248, vol. 72, 192–95 (will of Ann Boylston, 13 March 1754). Lives of Women in Northern New England 1650–1750 (New York: Vintage Books, 1991), 5. 6 Rosemary Zagarri, A Woman’s Dilemma: Mercy Otis Warren and the American Revolution (Wheeling, Ill.: Harlan Davidson, Inc., 22 Hogan, Adams Family Correspondence, [note 19] 22, 38. Mary 1995), 10. Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, 28 Feb. 1790 and 1 April 1790. 7 Jennifer E. Monaghan, Learning to Read and Write in Colonial 23 L. H. Butterfield, ed., Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 2 America (Amherst and Boston: University of Massachusetts (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963), 163. John Press, 2005), 38. Adams to Abigail Adams, 18 Feb. 1777. 8 Muddy River and Brookline Records [note 3], 96. 24 Hogan and Taylor, eds., My Dearest Friend [note 17], 323. John Adams to Abigail Adams, 1 May 1789. 9 Monaghan, Learning to Read and Write in Colonial America [note 7], 44. 25 McCullough, John Adams [note 1], 310. 10 Muddy River and Brookline Records [note 3], 101, 107. 26 Paul C. Nagel, Descent from Glory: Four Generations of the John Adams Family (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), 49–50. 11 W. Ross Beales and Jennifer E. Monaghan, “Literacy and School Books,” in Hugh Amory and David D. Hall, eds., A His- tory of the Book in America, Volume 1: The Colonial Book in the Harry Faulkner is an attorney, amateur historian, and Atlantic World (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, NEHGS member. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, 2007), 380. Nikki, who is a sixth great-grand-niece of Susanna Boylston 12 Suffolk County, Mass., Probate Records, Docket #6956. vol. Adams and a double first cousin seven times removed of 33, 83–84 (will of Joseph Adams, Jr., 1 March 1733/4). President John Adams. 13 L. H. Butterfield, ed.,Diary and Autobiography of John Adams. The Adams Papers, vol. 3 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1961), 257. Spring 2012 American Ancestors 37 by Patricia Bravender

stablishing kinship between members of extended Efamilies separated over many generations by time and distance can be challenging, even for experienced researchers. In the absence of vital records or detailed census data, which other sources can show connections between these divergent families? One overlooked resource that can establish kinship and perhaps even some exact relationships is family reunion records. Family reunions were — and remain — popular social events where extended family members gathered, usually once every year in the summer. According to historian Robert M. Taylor, Jr., family reunions “gained popularity after the Civil War in tandem with the blossoming of genealogy.”[1] At a time of “a rising sen- timent for rediscovering and renewing kin ties,” these reunions helped to maintain kin solidarity in response to the rapid social changes sweeping the nation.[2] I was researching the Hines family, and beginning to doubt I’d ever be able to reconstruct the family relationships, when I found written accounts of family reunions that helped me establish many connections. Establishing Hines family In just over a century, descendants of Richard and Elizabeth (—) Hines of Rhode Island and Massachusetts Kinship with spread across the continent. Details about their lives are scarce. Richard served in the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment during the Revolutionary War and died in Family Reunion penury in Colrain, Massachusetts, in 1820. Very little is known about Elizabeth, including her maiden name. Their only known son, Abraham Woodward Hines (1787–1873), and his children were pioneer settlers Announcements in Vermont, then in the Western Reserve and the Northwest Territory. Throughout the nineteenth century, Richard and Elizabeth’s descendants continued to move westward and, as new land opened in Iowa and the Dakotas, settled there. By the turn of the twentieth century, fifth-generation descendants had reached the Pacific Ocean and were living in Oregon, Washington, California, and even Alaska. Abraham W. Hines supposedly fathered at least twenty-one children by his first two wives over forty years. While he and his sons continually pushed west, his daughters married, changed their surnames, and often remained behind with their new families. Other descendants died early, leaving orphan children whose ties to the family were cut off. Connections between many of Abraham’s descendants were eventually lost. Identifying members of this sprawling family and their exact relationships has been difficult, further complicated since the Hines surname was common and unrelated families often lived in the same communities. And Hines is spelled in a variety of ways in census, land, and vital records, which also causes confusion. During my research I identified four probable sons of Abraham by his first wife, Hope Titus, whom he married in Shrewsbury, Vermont, in 1805. These four likely sons were: Alanson, Robert T., Abram B., and Sidney, all born in Vermont; at least two — and probably all — were indentured as children to neighboring farmers. Although circumstantial evidence suggests that the four are Abraham’s sons, no vital records definitively identify

Above: The 1936 Hines family reunion.

38 American Ancestors Spring 2012 their parents. Abraham’s six sons (Benjamin F., Lewis held in Lorain County, but occasionally in Michigan, H., Willis G., Charles, Richard S., and William) with Pennsylvania, or Indiana. A Hines family reunion was his second wife, Amanda Davis, whom he married first held in 1907; gatherings continued annually for in Conway, Massachusetts, in 1821, all served in the more than fifty years. Civil War, and each left a substantial paper trail proving The following reports, and others like them, were kinship to Abraham and to each other. This trail found in the personal columns of the Chronicle-Telegram: included pension applications and detailed marriage August 18, 1921 — Miss Gladys Hines of the East Side and death records. By the late 1850s, Abraham, his left today with her uncle and his family from Wellington [3] three likely sons, and his six known sons all lived in for Richmond, Ind. to attend the Hines family reunion. Lorain and Lucas Counties, Ohio. Abraham lived with The trip will be by machine.[4] families from both lines at various times. Couldn’t September 5, 1933 — Mr. and Mrs. C.C. Hines, Mr. & I somehow prove brotherhood, or at least kinship, Mrs. Myron Hines and family attended the Hines re- between these men? union at Cascade Park in Elyria last Saturday.[5] Hines family reunions August 23, 1935 — The 28th annual reunion of the I knew that the Hines family had held annual reunions Hines descendants was held last Saturday at the Town Hall. About fifty four were present from New Castle, because my grandmother, Helen (Nicklas) Hines, told Pennsylvania, Elyria, Cleveland, Strongsville, Kalamazoo, me that she had attended some in the 1930s and 1940s. Mich., Lorain, Litchfield, Medina, North Oberlin, She even had group photographs. Unfortunately, the North Royalton, Wellington, and here. Officers were quality of the photos was poor and most individuals elected as follows: Pres. Cullen Hines; Sec. & Treas. Mrs. could not be identified. My grandmother remembered Cullen Hines from Kalamazoo, Michigan. A sumptuous that “Uncle Dick attended” or that “a cousin named picnic dinner was served at noon. Music and dancing Cullen used to come.” Her stories and photographs provided clues to the names and relationships of the attendees but no substantive evidence of kinship. My grandmother and I even attended a revival of the Hines reunions in Lorain County in the late 1980s. We were invited by a Hines researcher who was also seeking a possible connection between our lines. Like me, many members of the Lorain County Hines families believed we had a common ancestor, but no one knew the exact kinship or had records of earlier family reunions. We had a wonderful time at the reunion, but we came no closer to understanding the connection between our families, if one even existed. My discovery of written accounts of the Hines family reunions was serendipitous. When full-text searchable newspapers became available on Ancestry.com and other websites, many Lorain County newspapers were included. Those papers, like others of the time, published information about the daily lives of residents. Sometimes listed under column headlines such as “per- sonals” or “local happenings,” the comings and goings of the locals were fully reported. Family reunions were important social events and were often covered with as much detail as weddings and deaths. While searching these newspapers online for Hines family members, The author’s family at a Hines reunion, circa 1939. The I found reports of reunions, ranging from brief an- children are James Lewis Hines, the author’s father, and his nouncements to detailed lists of attendees. sister, Shirlee Jean Hines. The adults, from left to right, are Through news items in the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram Helen (Nicklas) Hines, the author’s grandmother; James I found that Hines reunions were always held in Madison Hines and Ethel (Stringham) Hines, the author’s August, usually on the third Saturday. Most were great-grandparents; and James Nelson Hines, the author’s grandfather.

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 39 were enjoyed. The next reunion for 1936 will be held at Cascade Park, Elyria on Sources of online digitized historical newspapers the 3rd Saturday in August. Will Girward • Historical Newspaper Collection, Ancestry.com had the misfortune to fall at the reunion • America’s Historical Newspapers, Newsbank, Inc. and injure his arm and it was necessary to (available to NEHGS members on AmericanAncestors.org) have the aid of a physician.[6] • 19th Century U.S. Newspapers, Proquest August 22, 1957 — Mr. and Mrs. George • Newspaperarchive.com Ensign and family attended the 50th annual Hines reunion at Litchfield Town Search tip: Be creative with search terms. The original language Hall Sunday. Mr. and Mrs. Earl Hines of some relevant articles contained the phrases “Hines family re- were host and hostess. The attendance union,” “Hines reunion,” and “reunion of the Hines family.” If was about 75. A basket lunch was served a database allows only for name searching, you can fool it into later.[7] searching for phrases by putting key terms in the first name box August 22, 1957 — About 65 attended and the last name box; for example, first name “Hines” and last the 50th Hines reunion at the town hall name “reunion” or “family.” Sunday. The birthdays of Chelice Baish Sources of historical newspapers in print, and Mrs. Genevieve Welsh of Wellington were observed. A layer cake, beautifully microform, or digital format decorated, was cut for the occasion.[8] • Local libraries, archives, and historical societies Once I knew the reunions were held • State library and archives each August, I searched newspapers in • Newspaper offices other locales where family members Search tip: Limit your print or microfilm search of historical lived. For example, Abraham and his newspapers to the summer months, the most likely time for six sons by his second wife settled near reunions. Don’t forget September, especially if the paper was Saranac, Ionia County, Michigan, in weekly. Once you know the layout of the paper, you will quickly the early 1860s. Although the Saranac recognize the sections most likely to contain reports of reunions. newspaper, the Saranac Advertiser, is not If you can’t visit the local library or archive, request microfilm of searchable online, weekly issues from the newspaper through interlibrary loan. 1894 through 1970 have been digitized and the DVD is available at the town Other sources of information about family reunions library. I downloaded the images onto • Donated reunion papers and records in local libraries, archives my computer and read the August and and historical societies in your ancestors’ communities. September issues, those most likely to • Reunion records may be found on their own or as part of fam- contain reports of the reunions. I did ily association records in national libraries and archives such as find mention of Hines reunions, in- the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the Daughters cluding this one: of the American Revolution library, and NEHGS. August 12, 1909 — Richard Hines and Search tip: Find family reunion and family association records by son Nelson left Tuesday for Wellington, searching union catalogs describing collections at various libraries Ohio where they will attend a reunion of the Hines family.[9] and archives, such as Worldcat.org and ArchiveGrid.org). Don’t forget Google I have been researching the Hines family for many years and have a data- • A general Google search might lead to a posting about previ- base on the descendants of all suspected ous or current reunions, links to archives, or a fellow reunion children of Richard and Elizabeth. As researcher. I read the newspaper reports of Hines • The Google News Archive has links to newspapers, both free family reunions, I immediately rec- and fee-based, and a search of Google Books might locate, for ognized names of people I had re- instance, a speech given at a 25th family reunion of interest. searched. Some I knew to be descendants of Abram B. Hines, believed to be Abraham W. Hines’s son by the first marriage in Hines was a son of Abraham W. Hines, the fact that de- Vermont, and some were descendants of children by scendants of children from both wives attended these his second wife. While not proving that Abram B. family reunions is strong evidence of kinship. These

40 American Ancestors Spring 2012 4 Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio), August 18, 1921, 4. Viewed reports are also interesting for what they do not con- at Ancestry.com. tain: they never mention descendants of two other sus- 5 Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio), September 5, 1933, 5. pected sons of Abraham, Alanson and Robert T., who Viewed at Ancestry.com. lived in neighboring Lucas County. 6 Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio), August 23, 1935, 4. Viewed Like many family reunion groups, the Hines family at Ancestry.com. elected a secretary who likely kept reunion records. 7 Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio), August 22, 1957, 10. Viewed Although I have not located them in any library or at Ancestry.com. historical society, I am hopeful that they still exist and, 8 Ibid., 14. if found, will further clarify kinship among descen- 9 Saranac (Mich.) Advertiser, August 12, 1909, 1. Digitized copy dants of Abraham W. Hines.  available at the Saranac Public Library. Notes

1 Robert M. Taylor, “Summoning the Wandering Tribes: Ge- Patricia Bravender is a Professional Programs nealogy and Family Reunions in American History,” Journal of Librarian at Grand Valley State University in Grand Social History, 16:2 (1982): 21. Rapids, Michigan, and is a descendant of Abraham W. Hines 2 Ibid., 22. through his second wife, Amanda Davis. Her email address is 3 One probable son, Sidney Hines, disappeared from the records [email protected]. and presumably died.

“Weighing the Evidence,” continued from page 34

3 Lawrence McGrath, Esther Whitney Mott, and Phylicia Salis- 11 Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records, citing bury, ”The Probable English Origins of Thomas Betterley,” Reg- Litchfield Vital Records, 1:5. ister 162 (Jan. 2008):8–14. 12 David A. Whittredge, “The English Origins of William1 4 See, for example, Edgar Joseph Shaw, “The English Origins of Whitredge of Ipswich, Massachusetts,” Register 164 (April Roger and Ann Shaw of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Hamp- 2010):139–44; Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration: ton, New Hampshire,” Register 158 (Oct. 2004):309–18. Immigrants to New England, 1634–1635: Volume VII, T–Y (Bos- ton: NEHGS, 2011), 374–80 (William Whittered). 5 See, for example, Cathy Soughton, “Thomas1 Burnham of Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire, and Hartford, Connecticut,” 13 Rachal Mills Lennon, “Jonathan Turner—More than a Name: Register 166 (Jan. 2012):5–10, at 5 n. 2. A Carolina Case Study in Dissecting Records,” National Genea- logical Society Quarterly 97 (March 2009):17–28, at 20–21. 6 See, for example, Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1633, 3 vols. 14 Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn Jr., and Me- (Boston: NEHGS, 1995), 1:581 (John Drake), and Leslie Mahler, linde Lutz Sanborn, The Great Migration: Immigrants to New Eng- “The English Origins of Edmund1 Quincy of Boston and His land, 1634–1635: Volume II, C–F (Boston: NEHGS, 2001), 534– Servants, Thomas and Katherine (Greene) Makins,” Register 157 37 (Rev. Henry Flint had no other daughter with a name like (Jan. 2003):31–33. Anna); Waldo Chamberlain Sprague, Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, Massachusetts, CD-ROM (Boston: NEHGS, 2001), 7 Joseph Crook Anderson II, “Eleven Thomas Abbotts of Ber- card 1344R (Dassett). wick, Maine, and Vicinity,” The American Genealogist 70 (April 1995):85–95; William B. Saxbe, Jr., “Twenty-One Jabez Bow- 15 James Savage, Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of ens,” Rhode Island Roots 36 (June 2010):57–78. New England, 4 vols. (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1860–62), 2:174–75; Clarence A. Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 8 See, for example, Nancy J. Pennington, “Three Men Named 1700, 3 vols. (Boston: NEHGS, 2011); also CD-ROM (Boston: Isaac Phelps with Connections to Windsor, Connecticut,” Reg- NEHGS, 2001) and database online at AmericanAncestors.org. ister 163 (April 2009):116–33. 16 Jeffrey L. Haines, “Putting the Pieces Together to Solve the 9 Elias Loomis [and Elisha S. Loomis], Descendants of Joseph Loo- Parentage Puzzle: Using Indirect Evidence to Prove the Link mis in America, 2 vols. (Berea, Ohio: Elisha S. Loomis, 1908), between Oliver L. Kelley and George H. Kelley of Wilming- 1:132, 133, 134; Henry R. Stiles, The History of Ancient Wind- ton,” The North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal 35 (Nov. sor, Genealogies and Biographies, 2 vols. (Hartford, Conn.: Case, 2009):293–314, at 307–14. An important aspect to the article Lockwood & Brainard, 1892; repr. Somersworth, N.H.: New was that Oliver (the father) was born in Norwich, Connecticut, Hampshire Publishing Co., 1976), 2:434, 435. Both sources and George (the son) was born in Illinois. assign the oldest Mary as the wife of John Buell. 10 Register 1 (April 1847):196; 22 (April 1868):198. Henry B. Hoff, CG, FASG, is editor of the Register.

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 41 Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Abstracts, 1706–1863 New Databases on AmericanAncestors.org

by Sean Furniss

fter publication of my initial research on often should, be viewed as a series of records that cov- Athe family of Robert Furniss (c. 1732–1800) ers a specific family or various social/political events and his wife Margaret Gardner (c. 1742–1832) of over time. The abstracts document individuals, but Portsmouth, New Hampshire,[1] my interest in bet- they also reveal insights into Portsmouth’s history and ter understanding the historical context of their lives culture. led me to continue researching Portsmouth records. Abstracts of shorter records include all the infor- During the course of my research, I realized that a mation in the original source, but abstracts of longer number of Portsmouth primary sources, which I found records contain only a portion of the original. When online, in libraries, and on microfilm, had no compiled you find abstracts of interest, you should verify them indexes or abstracts. I began to compile individual against the original records cited to check for any abstracts and created four databases to store the infor- additional information. mation. Working from my home in Reston, Virginia, I completed this project in about eighteen months. Vital records By the end, I had created a set of more than 30,000 I compiled the vital records abstracts from transcrip- abstracts, which consisted of vital records (1706–1863); tions of the records created by the town clerk’s office.[2] Overseers of the Poor records (1817–1838) from Although the cover page of the record book indicates Portsmouth town records; warnings out from the New that the births, burials, and marriages cover 1750 to Hampshire State Archives (1722/3–1769); and extracts 1857, the actual range is from 1706 to 1863.[3] Very from Portsmouth newspapers (1776–1800). Four data- few of the records appear to have been recorded on bases will be separately published on AmericanAncestors. the date of the event, and some records refer to places org; the first to be released was “Portsmouth, NH: Vital beyond Portsmouth. Records, 1709–1841.” Some examples follow: Primarily focused on people and events related to • The 1750–1768 births of the children of John and Portsmouth, the abstracts also include references to Sarah Penhallow were recorded on 10 May 1770.[4] people and events in other parts of the United States • Marriages performed by Rev. Nathaniel Rogers and the world. While the town and state records range between 1708 and 1723 were entered in the town from 1706 to 1838, more than two-thirds of the news- records after the entries for 1841, more than a cen- paper abstracts appeared between 1776 and 1800. tury later.[5] Each record or newspaper abstract covers a specific • The birthplace of John MacMahon (b. 3 May 1841) person or group, but many of these abstracts can, and is listed as Boston.[6]

Above: View of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from across the Piscataqua River. An illustration in The Atlantic Neptune, published for the use of the Royal Navy of Great Britain, by Joseph F.W. Des Barres (London, 1777–1781). Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.

42 American Ancestors Spring 2012 • The marriage of George Turner and Elizabeth Cutty Some beneficiaries, on the same or adjacent pages, on 14 December 1771, at the parish church of St. with the same surname and receiving board within the Nicholas, Church of Ireland, Cork, Ireland, was record- same time period, were likely members of the same fam- ed in the Portsmouth town records on 30 April 1792.[7] ily, but specific statements about relationships are rare. Thomas Curtis was provided passage out of state for Overseers of the Poor himself and his unnamed wife and two unnamed chil- I created abstracts of the Overseers of the Poor records, dren. The cost of his board for nine days was $1.91. On 1817–1838, from the transcription of the Portsmouth the same page are entries for Mary Curtis (nine days’ town records.[8] The earliest entries, from 1817 through board for $1.91), Mary Ann Curtis (nine days’ board for the 1820s, often detail the goods and services provided $0.96) and John Curtis (nine days’ board for $0.96).[12] to those in need. The 1830s records are more generic The record of payments on 18 January 1828 suggests and often lack such specific information. that Thos. Curtis was married to Mary Curtis, and that Some of the Overseers records referred to deaths, their children were Mary Ann and John. mental state, marital status, color, children born out of I abstracted all names as they appeared in the tran- wedlock, and places of origin and/or later residence. scribed records, some under more than one spelling. • In February 1830, John Lake paid $95 “on account Numerous entries appear for Isaac Morris and Isaac [13] of the said Abigail Gott having the above named Morriss from 1820 to 1823, and for Violet Cato [14] child by the son of the said John Lake.”[9] Mise and Violet Moise from 1823 to 1829. These • A payment of $2.50, recorded on 23 April 1822, was names likely relate to only two people. made to Sexton Benjamin Nutter for the burial of Warnings out the child of Israel Henderson.[10] • The effects of Ann Carpenter and her two children Like the other New England colonies, New Hampshire were freighted to Boston by Michael Vaughan; a pay- regulated town inhabitants through a process known ment of $3 was recorded on 15 January 1824.[11] as warning out. These warnings reduced the town’s

“Plan du port de Portsmouth levé à vue,” circa 1782. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 43 Searching the Portsmouth, NH: Vital Records, 1709–1841 database on AmericanAncestors.org This database is similar to the majority of our vital records databases in that it may be searched by first name, last name, record year (or record year range) and record type. These search parameters may be used individually, or in any combination. In addition, any of these basic search parameters can be combined with a “keyword” search, to narrow the search results. For example, to search for the marriage of William Smith and Elizabeth (unknown surname), you would enter William as first name, Smith as last name, and Elizabeth as a keyword. Since this search would find all records in which William Smith is mentioned with the name “Elizabeth,” results would also potentially include records where “Elizabeth” is a parent or child. The search may be further narrowed by selecting Record Type “Marriage.” In addition, the name and keyword search fields support all the “wildcard” search options as described at www.american ancestors.org/faqs/#Search.

financial responsibilities for people from elsewhere • In a series of advertisements between 1778 and 1800, who had no means of support. If someone resided in a Samuel Bowles offered for sale, at his two shops in New Hampshire town for three months without be- Portsmouth and Berwick, Maine, a wide range of ing warned, then that person was deemed by law to be goods including leather products, cloth, grocery an inhabitant, and the town would become liable for items, crockery, and West India imports. He also support. The law provided that, with a warrant from sold items “made by the Portsmouth Manufacturing the justice of the peace, people who failed to depart Society that employs the poor.” [17] from a town within fourteen days of being warned • Capt. Rich of the Ruby arrived at Boston from could be sent from constable to constable until they Calcutta, India, in 1791: “Of her cargo is a consider- were returned to the town “where they belonged.”[15] able quantity of sugars, not produced by the hard The New Hampshire Archives holds seventy-three toil and sweat of the sable sons of Africa.”[18] documents, from 1 February 1722/3 to 16 December • Henry Allard, an apprentice between seventeen and 1769, which contain 113 warnings-out records for eighteen years old with a swarthy complexion and the town of Portsmouth. All but one document lists dark brown hair, ran away in November 1786 from only basic information: date of the warrant, date of the Charles Waters, who offered a reward of sixteen warning, and notes. bricks for Allard’s return.[19] The Justice of the Peace’s order for the removal of • Mr. George King was married at Patchog Summers Clark is the only record that specifically [Patchogue], Long Island, to Sally King in 1792. The documents the forced removal and transportation of groom was sixty-six and the bride was twelve years, someone from Portsmouth. Summers Clark, who re- two months.[20] sided in town for three months, was ordered to be • In 1796, “DIED — At Littleton, Vermont, Mrs. transported to “where he belonged.” He was delivered Martha Hall, aged 96, a very noted midwife, she had to Greenland, New Hampshire, on 31 October 1764 been at the birth of three thousand children.” [21] and to Hampton, New Hampshire, on 1 November • Eight members of the brig Peggy, from Greenock, 1764.[16] Scotland, died on 8 December 1795 when the ship wrecked at Lynn Beach in Massachusetts.[22] Newspapers • Advertisements placed by Josiah Dwight in 1799 I compiled newspaper abstracts from 25 May 1776 noted his pharmacy products “will be sold cheap through 27 December 1800 primarily from the (considering the unprecedented and still advancing online images in the Early American Newspapers, Series I price of Drugs and Medicines).” [23] 1690–1876 (an external database on www.American Ancestors.org), supplemented with newspaper micro- And lest we think that printed genealogical humor is films at the Library of Congress and original news a recent phenomenon, an abstract from a 1788 New papers in the Dartmouth College library. The newspa- Hampshire Spy offers “A Burlesque on Genealogy”: per abstracts are broadly categorized as advertisements, “Answered the gate keeper, I can prove my family births, deaths, marriages, news, and maritime records. to have existed before the Deluge. And I mine from The excerpts are often rich with historic detail, as the Adam, said the Postilion. And I mine before Adam, following examples show: said the gate keeper. You are right replied the other, the proof is very easy; for before Adam there were no

44 American Ancestors Spring 2012 animals but brutes, and it is certain that you are descended from them.”[24]

Summary This new collection on AmericanAncestors. org makes eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Portsmouth records more accessible, and helps us gain insight into the lives and times of its people. Life is more than births, marriages, and deaths — and this collection provides a variety of resources that go beyond vital records. Often the information we find is not what we were seeking. The surprise of finding unexpected insights about the people and times adds to the interest and challenge of researching a family history. Portsmouth’s Richard Jackson House, built circa 1664, is the oldest sur- Acknowledgments viving wood frame house in New Hampshire. Owned by Historic New The assistance of Benoît Pelletier Shoja in England, it is open to the public from June to October. Photographed helping me understand the history of the about 1900. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division transcription of the Portsmouth town rec Washington, D.C. ords and in making copies of the warnings out is greatly appreciated. I would also like 11 Ibid., 140. to thank Melinde Lutz Byrne for her encouragement 12 Ibid., 255. and helpful comments in preparing these abstracts.  13 Ibid., 44, 45, 56, 70, 79, 97, 105. 14 Notes Ibid., 105, 140, 285. 15 Josiah Henry Benton, Warning Out in New England (Boston: 1 Sean B. Furniss, “The Furniss Family of Portsmouth, New W. B. Clarke Company, 1911), 88–98. Hampshire, and New York City, New York,” The New Hampshire Genealogical Record 38 (1994): 97-107. 16 Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Warnings Out of Town, 1722/3–1769, unnumbered loose pages, warrant for Summers 2 Portsmouth, New Hampshire, State’s Copy of Records of Clark, 31 October 1764, New Hampshire State Archives, Con- Portsmouth, Vol. 11, 1750–1857, includes Town Records Vol. LL cord. (births 1750–1857), MM (burials 1753–1849), and NN (marriages 1769–1841); FHL microfilm 15289. 17 New Hampshire Spy, 29 December 1789, 75. 3 There is a death record dated 1895, but it appears to be an er- 18 Ibid., 13 July 1791, 91. ror for 1805; the next oldest record is an 1863 death, and is the 19 Ibid., 5 December 1786, 49. one used for the upper end of the date range. 20 Ibid., 29 December 1792, 3. 4 Portsmouth, N.H., Town Records 11: 2. 21 Oracle of the Day, 8 September 1796, 3. 5 Ibid., 508–515. 22 Ibid., 16 December 1795, 3. 6 Ibid., 2. 23 Federal Observer, 23 May 1799, 3. 7 Ibid., 186. 24 “A Burlesque on Genealogy” (translated from the French), 8 Portsmouth, New Hampshire, State’s Copy of Records of New Hampshire Spy, 8 January 1788, 1. Portsmouth, Vol. 10, Town Records, vol. II Expenses of Over- seers of the Poor, 1817–1838; FHL microfilm 15289. Sean Furniss has spent more than thirty years researching 9 Portsmouth, N.H., Town Records 10: 317. his New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Irish 10 Ibid., 100. ancestors. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 45 Genetics Ti&t Genele alogy

Chasing Harrimans through Y-DNA by F. Stephen Gauss

wenty-five years ago the Harriman Family Jonathan2, and John2 (this last died at “Bloody Brook” in TAssociation was founded to identify descendants Deerfield). Five known descendants of Matthew2 have of Leonard and John Harriman, purportedly brothers been tested to 37 markers and match on 36 out of 37, who came from Cumberland, England, in 1638 and differing only on #458. Two descendants of Jonathan2 settled in Rowley, Massachusetts, and New Haven, from two of his sons match on 36 out of 37 markers, Connecticut.[1] In the nineteenth century, Amos with a difference of one on marker CDYb. The Hadley claimed that “this Leonard was the ancestor of descendants of Matthew2 and Jonathan2 show a con- all the Harrimans in New England”;[2] John’s descen- sistent difference on both #390 and #607 of only one. dants lived in New Jersey. The surname appears in dif- One Matthew descendant has a marker value of 14 for ferent forms within even the same family; Harriman, #607; #390 may distinguish the two brothers. All test Herriman, Harryman, etc. We have accumulated a descendants of Leonard belong to haplogroup R1b1a2. database of more than 60,000 persons, but not all Harrimans can be properly assigned a lineage. The John Harriman of New Haven, Connecticut progenitors of a John Harryman in Maryland records John Harriman (ca. 1623–1683) settled in New Haven, in the 1690s are unknown and the agnate ancestor of Connecticut, and his descendants lived largely in the Harrimans of New York, who include the railroad New Jersey. The one tested descendant matches the tycoon E. H. Harriman and his son Averell, arrived five descendants of Leonard at 35 out 37 markers. near the end of the eighteenth century. Interestingly, #390 matches Matthew2, whereas #607 Knowing that Y-DNA testing might suggest that matches Jonathan2. Leonard and John were indeed brothers, in 2006 we Lois Ware Thurston’s 1996 Register article argues began a surname group through familytreedna.com. We compellingly that Leonard and John were children first concentrated on association members who had of MatthewA Harriman of Uldale, Cumberland, well-documented lineages, and then tested those with England, based largely on the onomastic repetition of more uncertain descents. first names Matthew, Leonard, and John, in both the English and American families. Local parish registers Leonard Harriman of Rowley, Massachusetts do not cover the birth years of Leonard or John and no Leonard1 Harriman (ca. 1621–1691) had three sons, will has been found for MatthewA.[3] DNA testing adds Matthew2 (the more prolific by almost four to one), supporting evidence, however, and may also be used

Y-DNA test results DYS19 DYS393 DYS390 DYS391 DYS385 DYS426 DYS388 DYS439 DYS392 DYS458 DYS389 II Haplogroup DDYS389 I John Harriman R1b1a2 13 25 14 11 11–14 12 12 13 13 13 29 18 Leonard Harriman R1b1a2 13 25 14 11 11–14 12 12 13 13 13 29 18 John Harryman of R1b1a2 13 23 14 11 11–15 12 12 11 13 13 29 18 Baltimore (Group 1) John Harryman of I1 13 22 15 10 13–15 11 14 11 12 11 28 15 Baltimore (Group 2) For further results, please visit www.familytreedna.com/public/harriman.

46 American Ancestors Spring 2012 to help place less Haplogroup Gen 2 Gen 3 Gen 4 Gen 5 Gen 6 Gen 7 well-documented Harriman descen- Pair 1 R1b1a2 John Charles Elijah Charles Harvey William dants within the Pair 1 R1b1a2 John Charles Elijah Charles Harvey Roscoe American progeny Pair 2 I1 John Charles Charles Charles Thomas Ira of MatthewA. Pair 2 I1 George George William William Joshua Thomas One test subject Subject 3 G2a John Charles Charles Charles Thomas Ira is thought to de- Six tested generations of supposed sons of John Harryman of Baltimore scend from Craig Herriman (b. ca. 1812) of Ontario, whose parents are unknown.[4] The this subject’s 37 markers match perfectly with many match is 33 of 37 markers to Jonathan2 Harriman. participants in the Stiles Y-DNA family project. A Several attempts to connect Craig to the immigrants Stiles progenitor lived in Rowley at the same time as Leonard and John have failed, but DNA results imply Leonard1 Harriman. This Harriman line then moved a connection. to Haverhill and New Hampshire, while the Stiles family remained in nearby Boxford and Topsfield for John Harryman of Baltimore County, Maryland several generations. These results seem to indicate Leonard’s third son, John2, died in 1675 in the battle at a non-paternity event and research is underway to “Bloody Brook” in Deerfield, Massachusetts.[5] A few establish the connection. accounts suggest that John2 left a wife and child, but no We continue to look for male Harrimans — corresponding marriage or birth appears in local vital particularly descendants of John of New Haven and records. Some researchers think that the child of John2 William of New York — and can help fund the testing founded the Maryland Harryman family. We tested of suitable subjects.  five presumed descendants of this John Harryman of Baltimore County. Two match each other perfectly on Notes 37 markers. Two others match on 36 out of 37 markers 1 Lois Ware Thurston, The Harriman Family: Research in Progress (the difference is on marker #449). But the two pairs (The Harriman Family Association, 1992) and www.harriman- do not match each other — the first is haplotype R1b1a2 family.org. and the second is haplotype I1. 2 Amos Hadley, The Life of Walter Harriman (Boston and New The above-mentioned first pair of Maryland York: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1888), 3. Harrymans share a Most Recent Common Ancestor 3 Lois Ware Thurston, “The English Ancestry of Leonard1 (MRCA) three generations ago. The second pair (if Harriman of Rowley, Massachusetts and John1 Harriman of their hypothesized lineages are correct) share an ances- New Haven, Connecticut,” Register 150 (1996):29–47. tor ten generations ago — to two sons of the first John 4 Craig Herrymen lived in Ontario, Canada. The 1842 census Harryman of Baltimore County. However, much of (in Grand River, Ontario) lists him as a Canadian native of Brit- the second pair’s lineages cannot be confirmed. More ish origin; the death record of his son Thomas gives “father’s research on the Maryland family and more test sub- birthplace” as the U.S. jects are needed. 5 George M. Bodge, “Soldiers in King Philip’s War,” Register 38 A fifth subject — shown as Subject 3 — has tested (1884):335; also see George M. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s only twelve markers, but they do not match any of the War (Leominster, Mass., 1896). other results. Even the haplotype does not match pairs 1 or 2. The fifth subject’s lineage is not well docu- F. Stephen Gauss, a retired astronomer, has researched mented. None of these five Maryland-derived subjects his family history for more than thirty-five years. He is has any close match to the New England Harrimans. administrator of the Harriman Y-DNA project and newsletter editor and webmaster for the Harriman Family Association. Other Harrimans His own Gauss Y-DNA test has turned up no matches. He Another subject with the Harriman surname also does can be reached at [email protected]. not match the Leonard/John pattern, despite a well- documented lineage to Matthew2 (Leonard1). However,

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 47 Manuscripts at NEHGS

Serving our Members: Manuscript Reference Services at NEHGS by Judith Lucey

s archivists at NEHGS, Tim Salls and I wear better cataloger. And because Tim and I have researched Amany hats. We oversee acquisitions, arrange col- our own family histories, we have experienced both lections, and preserve and catalog materials, but as sides of the reference desk. reference archivists we can see the true fruits of our Access to manuscripts at NEHGS is a benefit of labor. Our rewards come in personal encounters at the membership, and most users are family historians reference desk, or via long distance by phone or email researching their ancestry. Members are often looking as we connect patrons to the many treasures in our to fill in blanks on a family tree by, perhaps, seeking Special Collections — when we witness a member’s to identify the unknown parentage of an ancestor or excitement at discovering a letter written by an ances- the elusive maiden name of a female ancestor. In some tor or receive a simple thank-you that details how our cases, they may have exhausted all online and published manuscripts advanced someone’s research. Serving the sources and are coming to us as a “last resort.” The most patrons who use our resources is the most important frequently requested items are Bible, church, and town function of the department. records, cemetery transcriptions, and compiled gene- At large institutions, reference duties and collec- alogies. Large genealogical collections which focus on a tions processing are stand-alone functions performed specific surname, which often extend beyond a specific by separate individuals with little overlap, and someone location, are also requested regularly. The compiler may who processes collections may have little or no contact have accumulated information on individuals with the with the public. Because we have a small staff, Tim and same surname across the United States, helping trace I are involved in every step, from picking up a collec- migrations from New England to upstate New York, tion at a donor’s home through all Ohio, Michigan, and beyond. phases of preparation to placing In addition to members, we it on the shelf for use. This level also see visiting scholars — his- of involvement helps us develop torians, Ph.D candidates, and in-depth knowledge of our col- curators from museums and lections and translates to better other cultural institutions who reference service for our patrons. consult our manuscripts for Because of our “hands-on” ap- their research. These scholars of- proach, we get to know our users ten use less frequently requested and what they are seeking. This items — account books, diaries, helps us to prepare descriptions commonplace books, ministers’ for catalog records and collec- records, sermons, and collection guides. We try to include the tions of historical documents. descriptive terms genealogists We’re always pleased and want — names, dates, and geo- proud to find that someone has graphical locations. We’ll men- cited material from our collection whether a compiled geneal- tion, or to see our images and ogy includes allied and collateral documents published in journals lines, and list those surnames as and books. NEHGS recently either subject headings or in the Horace P. Tuttle with the Bowditch Comet published one of our own descriptive content note. My daily Seeker, 1861. Mss 187. Image published manuscripts, Mss 219, Hannah interaction with genealogists at in The Antiquarian Astronomer, Mather Crocker’s, Reminiscences the reference desk has made me a January 2012. and Traditions of Boston: Being

48 American Ancestors Spring 2012 ing access is central to the department’s core mission, here are a few suggestions to help you plan a visit to the library: • The online catalog record at http://library.nehgs.org serves as the gateway to our material, and can provide a summary of a single manuscript item or an entire collection. We also have a published guide to the collection available in our library, which can be purchased online at www.americanancestors.org/store. • We are available to researchers during the normal library operating hours, Tuesday through Saturday, including Wednesday evenings. Manuscript items are Image from the NEHGS Digital Archive. Schoolchildren housed in closed stacks, so you will need to “page” on Malaga Island, Maine, 1906–07, from the Capt. Lane the material by filling out a call slip at the 5th floor scrapbook, Mss A 1900. reference desk, Tuesday through Friday. You may request manuscripts on floor 5a on Saturdays, and from an Account of the Original Proprietors of that Town, & the the 6th floor on Wednesday evenings. Manners and Customs of its People, edited by Eileen • Photocopying of material is at the discretion of the Hunt Botting and Sarah Houser of the University of archivist, and only the archivist can make copies. Notre Dame. Authors will sometimes send us copies However, we make every attempt to try to copy as of their published works with images from our collec- much material as possible. We will not photocopy tion. Recently we received the January 2012 issue of an entire collection if it consists of a box or more The Antiquarian Astronomer, a journal of the Society for of material. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century the History of Astronomy, from Richard E. Schmidt original documents will also not be photocopied. We of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., encourage patrons to use digital cameras (no flash, who consulted the Charles Wesley Tuttle Papers (Mss please!). Paper copies are 25 cents per page. 187) for his article, “The Tuttles of Harvard College Observatory: 1850–1862.” In addition to genealogy, Providing access to our collections to those who live Mr. Tuttle had an avid interest in astronomy, as did sev- at a distance is always a challenge, but not impossible. eral family members, and in 1851 Charles W. Tuttle was Some of our material — including many cemetery appointed Second Assistant Observer at the Harvard transcriptions — have been digitized and can be found College Observatory. We provided Mr. Schmidt with in our online databases. We have many small manuscript two images from the collection. items, often only a single page, and our digital archive, Members and visitors come from all over the world available though our library catalog, allows members to use our collections. As this article goes to press, I am remote access to items such as Bible and family records, preparing materials for visitors from the University of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century documents, Turku in Finland, who are researching “Recorders of some finding aids to large collections, and our newest the Salem Witch Trial,” and seeking original documents addition, NEHGS membership forms, 1845–1884. For from approximately 1650 to 1720. These research- more in-depth manuscript research needs, members ers are trying to identify more than 150 individuals may contact our Research Services department. whose handwriting appears in documents from the Original sources can enrich your genealogical trials. During their visit they will consult the military research and add history to the names and dates on documents from the John Hill Papers (Mss 1055) and your family tree, so I encourage you to talk to the a 1692 letter from Cotton Mather to Samuel Sewall archival staff about your family history. “Chatting up (Mss C 2007). These late seventeenth-century docu- the archivist” can be a valuable way to learn about our ments contain the signatures of some of those involved resources. Many “hidden gems” within collections may in the trials, including Isaac Addington Jr., Sir William not show up in a catalog record, and we’d like to help Phips, and Cotton Mather. you find them. For more information about Special Collections, Helpful tips for accessing manuscripts at NEHGS please visit www.AmericanAncestors.org/special-collections.  We often receive questions from patrons about how to locate and use manuscripts at NEHGS. Since provid- Judith Lucey is archivist at NEHGS.

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 49 Diaries at nEHGS

An Excerpt from “Inklings of Belknap Street by Robert Shaw Sabbath School, Vol. 1,” by Josiah Freeman Bumstead, 1834

his diary records Josiah Freeman Bumstead’s Josiah was in business with his father as an upholsterer, Texperiences as the white superintendent of paper stainer, and importer of paper hangings, and was an African-American “Sabbath School” in Boston. listed as a merchant in the 1850 census. Josiah Freeman The Belknap Street Church, later known as the First Bumstead died in Boston on August 24, 1868. African Baptist Church, the First Independent Baptist Bumstead’s diary, cataloged Mss a 5042, was donated Church, and the African Meeting House, was built in to NEHGS on August 4, 1972, by Richard G. Wight of 1806 on Boston’s Beacon Hill, then the heart of the Duxbury, Massachusetts. It covers the first six months of city’s African American community. In 1832, William 1834; the excerpt presented is from January. Note: The Lloyd Garrison founded the New England Anti- excerpt has been edited only for clarity. Slavery Society there. the African Meeting House is Sources: Dexter’s Memoranda of the Town of Boston (online the oldest black church building still standing in the database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic United States, and is part of The Museum of African Genealogical Society, 2008); Boston, MA: Marriages, 1700– American History (www.maah.org). 1809 (online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New Josiah Freeman Bumstead was born in Boston on England Historic Genealogical Society, 2006), originally February 10, 1797, son of Josiah and Abigail (Baker) published as: Report of the Record Commissioners of Bumstead. Josiah’s mother died in 1798; his father, the City of Boston, Containing the Boston Marriages Josiah, remarried on March 14, 1799, Mary Greenleaf from 1700 to 1751, vol. 28 (Boston: Municipal Printing (possibly Greenough) Andrews. Josiah Freeman Office, 1898), and Records Relating to the Early Bumstead was married in Boston on July 21, 1823, History of Boston, Containing Boston Marriages to Lucy D. Willis (b. 1804; d. Boston, September 18, from 1752 to 1809, vol. 30 (Boston: Municipal Printing 1886), and the couple had four children who died Office, 1903); U.S. census records; Massachusetts VRs on young and four children who lived to adulthood AmericanAncestors.org; and Hazel P. Brook, “The (Freeman Josiah Bumstead, b. 1826; Laura Willis Bumstead Family,” Mss A 4961, R. Stanton Avery Special [Bumstead] Tuckerman, b. 1830; Nathaniel Willis Collections, NEHGS. Bumstead, b. 1834; and Horace Bumstead, b. 1841).

Jany. 1, 1834. I received a note from Mr Chas. Stod- the Psalm beginning with “The Lord is my shep- dard informing me of my being chosen Superinten- herd.” Singing the morning hymn — & called on dent of the African S.S. in Belknap St. Mr Sweetser to lead in prayer. Lesson today is Luke Sabbath after, Jan 5. I visited the school in the 12. 41-48. P.M. I led in the prayer at the opening morning & had some conversation with some of the exercise, previous to which the afternoon Hymn was teachers, principally with Mr Sweetser. At the time sung. It took some time to bring the school to perfect they did not seem to know me, or my object, until stillness previous to the prayer. I waited however until perhaps Mr Quincy informed them. The lesson this it was still altho’ the teachers looked wondering what morning was the second Comdt. Mr. Sweetser acted I waited for. as Supdt. The children come in during the devotional exercises. Sabbath Jan. 12. I arrived at the school room abt 20 They stand in prayer & in singing. No singing min before 9. Room not open. Presently Mr Sweet- books – only cards with 3 or 4 Hymns. ser came along. He obtained the key & opened the Some of the female teachers had no scholars. The door. He & another teacher, Mr. Putnam, made the weather today unfavorable. fire. Room dirty. I opened the school with reading In the morning, Mr Bigelow, voice was much too

50 American Ancestors Spring 2012 loud. Mr Jas. Leach, visited the school in the morn- twice & who has just been taken up for stealing two ing and I am inclined to think he would be willing to fur caps — I requested him to take some notice and take charge of this school. make some remark as he appeared desirous of doing so. There is an Infant class in an adjoining room. They After this, I added a few words & read from the come in, in the afternoon & join in the closing ex- little tract “Be sure Your Sin will find you out”. This ercise. There is also I understand a Bible Class in the sentence I particularly requested them to remember. I church above. told them I should inquire. The room this afternoon was excessively hot. Some I read about the man who was found out by hav- boys came before the time & filled the stove with ing a hole in his shoe. Also the boy who robbed an wood. This should not be. orchard and dropped his handker chief. In the afternoon I called the attention of the school I forgot this afternoon to give notice respecting about half an hour before the close. I read about the the lesson for next sabbath. I gave notice of a teachers Choctaw girl from Youth’s Comp. On the day she meeting to be held at my house tomorrow evening died this was her prayer to commence at 7. o’clk & continue one hour. “Uba Anka Ma”. Names of teachers from Mr. Putnam, Librarian’s books “My father above, open the door and let me in.” David Carver – Just before she died she said, “The door is open, I am John W. Quincy going in”. Edward M. Putnam Amos G. Bartlett Mr. Sweetser having said to me that he had heard Isaac Skinner something about a boy who had been in the school John Field Henry Bigelow Jared A Joy [in pencil]: Left in Dec H. B. Sweetser [in pencil]: do Jany — Mary Stevens Sarah Putnam Hannah Putnam Catharine Jenkins Nancy Wilder Sarah Kendall. Harriett J. Putnam. Ann Giddings Lucy Richards. Emmeline Lock √Anna B. Parker Eunice H. Howe [in pencil]: Left 2 mo ago – √Almira Bowker Harriet Grew [in pencil]: Left Hannah Obrien S. French. Mary Grew. Monday eve’g. Jan 13. The following met at my house. Sweetser Field Bartlett Carver Bigelow Quincy Lincoln a new teacher who is to take Mr Sweetser’s A page from “Inklings of Belknap class. he being about leaving for Newburyport. Street Sabbath School, Vol. 1.”

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 51 The above with myself make 9 males [and] 3 females, viz P.M. I came to the school 10 min. before 1. – 25 min Miss Kendall, Miss Richards, Miss King. before the time – Met 2 boys in the alley — “There’s d All the exercises were short. I read first Luke 11, 1-13. master” s one – as I passed them they bowed. Singing 4 or 5 times. Prayers by Bartlett, Quincy, In the school was Johnson who was there early in Sweetser & myself. Some conversation. A very pleas- the morning – He had put some wood into the stove, ant meeting on the whole. notwithstanding I told him not to in the morning. The walking was exceedingly slippery or doubtless I came early this afternoon to ascertain in regard to there would have been more present. the children’s coming at so early an hour & making a Thursday evng Jany 16 – was in May St. Stopped at a noise. grocery to inquire where a person lived. One of the female teachers spoke to me this morn- A colored boy about 10 yrs old came in with a mug. ing about Bible Class which has been held in the [He said]: ‘I want a half pint Gin 2 cent’s worth cig- Chapel above. She mentioned that the class wished gars -- good large ones!’ — The man went & got the to meet in this room as they have done I told her I half pint of Gin & 2 cigars. He went out & I went thought it desirable that they should especially while out at the same time. I asked him what his name was there is sufficient room. – “Chas Robinson” — Mr Brewer came in this p.m. to get one of the Do you go to Sab. Sch.? Record Books to aid him in amending his report. Yes. Where? In Centre St. I told him to tell his father He stated that the room was too warm for him. He about the Lecture that was to be tomorrow even at the mentioned about the practice of Mr Quincy in using Chapel in B. Street by Mr Frost & ask his father to go. physical force discipline – disapproving it entirely. He Friday Jan 17. Attended the Lect. by Mr Frost. Not said in regard to obtaining order & silence when he many there. Understood that there had been some addressed the school, he used to wait before he began deficiency in giving notice. There is to be another until the school was silent. Sometimes it would be tomorrow or on Monday Tuesday eveg — They perhaps 5 minutes. obtained 38 names — I read to the school from the Youth’s Comp. about The chapel is a very good looking place. the man’s questioning the boy with a wheelbarrow of As one way to promote punctuality & constant chips. Do you think you have a soul? &c attendance, how would it do in the afternoon to read Reviewed what I read last sab. about the Choctaw the names of those who have been so during the day? Indian. Made some remarks about the lesson. I have procured a bell for the use of the supdt. in Told them about my seeing a little colored boy at calling the school to order. the grocery, buying a ½ pt Gin. Gave notice about the meeting Tuesday eve’g next - Saturday Eve. By the Paper this evg. J. M. Plantain & J H Jackson have been sentenced for stealing clothes in Gave out the lesson & particularly requested all to Doct Flagg’s house. Plantain to S. Prison for 6 years. commit to memory at least one verse, the first. Sab. Jan. 19. I arrived at school 20 min. before 9. At 15. I found more difficulty in obtaining their attention before 9. present [were] Putnam and myself — 2 boys today than I did last sabbath – Some large boys were & 1 girl. Bartlett came in two minutes after. Fire was unruly – After school they made some little distur- made before I came. I read the lesson Luke 13, 23-27. bance, two boys quarreled. Singing morning Hymn. Mr. Bigelow prayed. A boy The teacher of the infant class sent in for me. I put into the stove a part of the Testament. Spoke to the went in, found 13 children. quite decent & orderly boys about saving every morsel of the Bible. they answered some questions by the teacher. Then I I am inclined to think that the scholars generally said a few words about the Choctaw Indian girl. do not commit the lesson to memory. There must be some things attended to by the male Present. ¼ before 10 teachers to obtain order — 4 male teachers beside myself When Supdt. addresses the school teachers should 7 female have all the books put aside — cards should not be in 13 boys 15 girls. not including Infant class. their hands only when singing.

52 American Ancestors Spring 2012 I think it would be an improvement to be seated commence Sab. morning and be precisely punctual? while at prayer & singing. Eyes shut & hands folded. In questioning the school I think it would be When I called upon the children to close their eyes, well some times ^at least^ to confine my questions they appeared to have been unused to it. to the girls – for a time. or to a single class of boys, Teachers should also see that hats & caps are put and require the rest of the school to be perfectly still out of the way. during that time. How would it do to remove the larger boys or all Some one must be hired to sweep the room of them farther in the room so as to be nearer the Saturday afternoon. supdts desk? No boy should be allowed to have his hat on in One boy mentioned that he never comes in the the school. morning because he has to go to the shop. (boot Reading in public by the scholars will be a good ex- black I suppose) ercise perhaps to begin with in acquiring confidence Boys must not be allowed to come too early – & – better perhaps than answering questions. Begin especially not to come in after the school is dismissed with a part of the school. & make a disturbance. The focus of this 250-page diary continues with the Sabbath Teachers must be punctual. This is of the first School and its activities and scholars, constantly reflecting on importance. how to improve them.  Door should be closed during devotional exercises. Robert Shaw is assistant archivist at NEHGS and They giggled (some of them) when I mentioned assistant editor for American Ancestors. about the boy who bought the ½ pint Gin. How would it do to consider 9 o,clk the time to

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 53 Focus on New York

Appreciating the New York State Census by Henry B. Hoff

ne of the bright aspects of research in New mother of Austin Crocker, and that Prudence, the sec- OYork is the New York State census. Taken ond wife, was the mother of Irving. In the 1860 census every ten years from 1825 to 1925,[1] the state census of Genoa, Irving — but not Austin — was included in provides remarkably valuable information, especially the household of Asa Crocker. when combined with research in the Federal census Imagine my surprise when I looked at the 1855 state and other sources. census of Genoa and found: Just like the Federal census, the state census ques- Asa Crocker, age 62, born Massachusetts, head of tions changed every ten years. With the 1855 census, household, resident 50 years New York pulled ahead of the Federal census in asking Prudence Crocker, age 52, born Greene County, wife, genealogically important questions. Since many books resident 17 years and articles provide the details of what questions were Austin G. Foster, age 21, born Onondaga County, adopted, asked on each state census,[2] this article will concen- resident 17 years trate on giving useful examples of how the 1855 and/ Irving Crocker, age 15, born Cayuga County, child, or the 1865 censuses were essential for genealogy. resident 15 years. (rest of household omitted) The three questions in the 1855 and 1865 state censuses, not found in the 1850 or 1860 Federal censuses, This listing told me that Austin might be Asa’s stepson, that provide the most useful information are: the child of Prudence’s previously unknown first marriage to a Mr. Foster, as was also suggested by the 1865 • Relationship to head of household, state census questions about marriages: both Asa and • County of birth, if born in New York State, and Prudence are shown as having been married twice.[4] • How long a resident of the city or town. I already knew that Prudence was born in Greene State censuses are often not indexed, but they are County, and that her family moved to Onondaga well worth searching for the families in which you are County about 1810. interested. Some 1855 and 1865 censuses have been indexed by county genealogical societies or even pub- Name as evidence of relationship lished in full, either in paper, on CD-ROM, or online. In the nineteenth century it was not unusual for peo- New York State Censuses & Substitutes (see note 1) and ple to tamper with their names, especially reversing county websites are good places to begin. Unindexed first and middle names. This behavior was a valuable images of the 1865 census are on FamilySearch.org. clue in the 1855 census, as follows:

[5] Relationships 1850 census, Kingsbury, Washington County: Although I have been using the state census for many Alonzo W. Griffin, age 2, born New York, was in the years, it had usually been a supplement to my research household of Shimuel Griffin until I made this upstate New York discovery, starting 1855 census, Kingsbury:[6] [3] with the following: Wilsey A. Griffin, age 7, born Washington County, child, 1850 census of Genoa, Cayuga County: resident 7 years, was in the household of Shimuel Griffin Asa Crocker, age 57, born Massachusetts 1860 census, Kingsbury:[7] Prudence ", age 47, born New York Austin ", age 17, born New York Alonzo W. Griffin, age 12, born New York, was in the Irving ", age 10, born New York household of Shimuel Griffin (rest of household omitted) The 1855 census entry for Wilsey A. Griffin supported From other research I knew that Asa’s first wife the probability that his mother Marcena was born Huldah died in 1838, so it looked as if Huldah was the Marcena Wilsey.[8]

54 American Ancestors Spring 2012 Place of birth taker gave the maiden name of widows.[15] We could A recent article in The American Genealogist reminds not reasonably ask for more!  us that in genealogy time and place are everything: Notes “[T]he origin of this family has always been a 1 puzzle, until a critical clue was found in the 1855 No New York State census was taken in 1885, but an abbrevi- New York State Census. There, in the household of ated census was taken in 1892 (though not in 1895). To some extent, the 1892 census compensates for the loss of the 1890 W. H. Haswell of Bethlehem, Albany County, New Federal census. York, is Arthur Haswell, aged 23, born in Ohio, hav- 2 ing lived in Albany County for just 2 months.”[9] Among the best of these are William Dollarhide, New York State Censuses & Substitutes (Bountiful, Utah: Heritage Cre- Similarly, a “crucial breakthrough” was found in the ations, 2005); David Paul Davenport, “The State Censuses 1855 census of Brooklyn, Kings County, for a recent ar- of New York, 1825–1875,” Genealogical Journal 14:4 (Winter ticle in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. 1985–86):172–97; and Joseph M. Silinonte, “State Censuses for That census reported that John B. Webb, age 55, was New York City, 1855–1925, The Irish At Home and Abroad 3:2 born in Suffolk County.[10] (1995/96):82–86. The 1855 census may also give good leads for 3 Henry B. Hoff, “Stephen Horton of Hebron, Conn., and where to find families in the 1850 Federal census. In a Marcellus, Onondaga Co., N.Y.: Establishing an Edward Fuller Genealogical Journal article, David Paul Davenport gives Line,” Mayflower Descendant 58:1 (Winter 2009):1–10. an example of a family that had lived in Albany only a 4 1865 New York State Census, 1st Election District, Genoa, year, with children born in New York and Richmond Cayuga County, p. 27, dwelling 215, family 216. counties. From the ages and places of birth of the chil- 5 1850 U.S. Census, Kingsbury, Washington County, New York, dren, he was readily able to find the family’s 1850 cen- roll 610, p. 236. sus entry.[11] 6 1865 New York State Census, 2nd Election District, Kings- As with the Federal census, a few census takers gave bury, dwelling 177, family 197. extra information, typically a more specific place of 7 1860 U.S. Census, Kingsbury, roll 875, p. 614. birth than required. For example, the 1855 census of 8 [12] Abbott Lowell Cummings, “Revolutionary War Captain Cor- Schenectady County includes the following entries: nelius Wiltsie of Pittstown, New York,” American Ancestors Jour- Mary Cillamon, age 5, born Cohoes [instead of Albany nal: Annual Supplement to The New England Historical and Genea- County] logical Register 163 (Oct. 2009):353–67; 164 (Oct. 2010):363–77, Mary Squires, age 30, born Delhi [instead of Delaware at 164:371 n. 144. County] 9 Todd A. Farmerie, “William A. Haswell of Tuscarawas County, Adolph R. Vand. Moore, age 39, born Hague [instead of Ohio: A Scion of the Albany, New York, Haswell family,” The Holland] American Genealogist 85:1 (Jan. 2011):37–43 at 38. 10 Non-population schedules Morrison DeSoto Webb, “Correctly Identifying John, Young- est Son of Thomas Webb (1754–1819) of Southold, Suffolk Non-population schedules may be as valuable as the County, New York, and Updating Thomas Webb’s Family,” census questions described above. The 1855, 1865, and The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 142 (Oct. 1875 state censuses have separate schedules for mar- 2011):245–59 at 245n, 247–48. riages and deaths that occurred within the preceding 11 Davenport, “State Censuses of New York, 1825–1875” [note twelve months. Oddly, names are omitted for those 2] Genealogical Journal 14:4:182–83, 197. schedules for 1855; however, this problem can be over- 12 David Paul Davenport, 1855 Census of Schenectady County, come using age, gender, and other information.[13] The New York: An Index (Rhinebeck, N.Y.: Kinship, 1989), 52, 82. 1865 state census asks about “Deaths of Officers and 13 Roger D. Joslyn, “Nameless Deaths and Marriages in the Enlisted Men which occurred . . . since April 1861,” 1855 New York State Census,” The NYG&B Newsletter 12:4 for soldiers or sailors in the Civil War. These questions (Fall 2001):41–42. are more numerous and detailed than those for deaths 14 David Paul Davenport, “Wives’ Maiden Names in 1855 Al- within the preceding twelve months. bany Sixth Ward,” The Capital 3:2 (1988):65–71 through 5:1 (1990): 23. Additional information 15 Alycon Trubey Pierce, “Update: More Praise for Cen- As shown above, some census takers reported town of sus ‘Errors,’” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 82 (Sept. birth instead of county of birth. Some went even fur- 1994):216–20 at 219. ther. In the Sixth Ward of Albany in 1855, the census taker frequently gave the maiden names of wives.[14] Henry B. Hoff, CG, FASG, is editor of the Register. In Brookhaven, Suffolk County, in 1865 one census

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 55 FAmily Focus

2012). Softcover, iv + 487 pp. Index. GENEALOGIES Documents the descendants of Abraham OTHER BOOKS & and Lydia (Lombard) Nason for six gen- IN PROGRESS erations, with summary genealogies of CDs RECENTLY Please refer to page 57 for submission the ancestry of both, footnoted and in- PUBLISHED guidelines. dexed. Identifies more than 600 Nason descendants in more than 300 households. Acadian/Cajun history The book is print-on-demand, available Cajun by Any Other Name: Recovering the GENEALOGIES through book retailers and online sources Lost History of a Family and a People, Marie such as Amazon.com. $36.95. Contact the Rundquist (West Conshohocken, Penn.: RECENTLY author at [email protected]. Infinity Publishing, 2012). Softcover, 166 Nason pp. Photos and references. Readers can fol- PUBLISHED Richard Nason in New England, vol. I low Rundquist’s Acadian ancestors, whose Descendants of John2 Nason, Douglas W. Chase lives were shattered by a forced expulsion Bowen (Indianapolis, Ind.: Dog Ear Publishing, from Nova Scotia in 1755, to the present Richard Bowen (1594?–1675) of Rehoboth, 2011). Hardcover, iv + 628 pp. Index. This day. Available from Barnes & Noble and Massachusetts, and His Descendants. Volume first volume in an anticipated series on the Infinity Publishing. 1, Generations 1–3. William B. Saxbe Jr., descendants of Richard1 Nason of Kittery, Connecticut CG, FASG (Hope, R.I.: Rhode Island Maine, documents 10 generations of de- Connecticut Town Meeting Records During the Genealogical Society, 2011). Hardcover, xii scendants through his son, John Nason, foot- American Revolution, Jolene Roberts Mullen + 353 pp., illustrated, bibliography, index of noted and indexed. It identifies more than (Westminster, Md.: Heritage Books, 2011). names and places, Register format. Includes 800 Nason individuals in 443 family groups. Softcover, Volume I: vii + 742 pp.; Volume five-generation genealogies of Robert1 The book is print-on-demand, available II: vi + 803 pp. Map, appendix, index. This Wheaton, Robert1 Fuller, and George1 through book retailers and online sources two-volume series offers a collection of Kendrick, each of whom married a daugh- such as Amazon.com. $58.95. Contact the extracts from the minutes of Connecticut ter of Richard1 Bowen. $35 for RIGS author at [email protected]. town meetings during the American members ($2.45 sales tax for R.I. residents); Revolution, from April 1775 through Nov. $39 for non-members ($2.73 sales tax for Pittsinger (Petzinger) 1783, with the addition of the Committees R.I. residents); $4.95 S&H for first book, John Pittsinger (Johannes Petzinger) and His of Inspection, Correspondence, and Safety $1 for each additional. Available from RIGS Descendants, the Story of a Hessian Soldier in 1774. Volume I: Ashford-Milford, $53; Books, P.O. Box 211, Hope, RI 02831. and an American Farmer, Virginia Leeds Pittsinger Shafer, (Hartford, Michigan, Volume II: New Fairfield-Woodstock, Lavoie self published, 2011). Hardcover, 704 $55.50. Available from Heritage Books, Genealogy of Andrea (Lavoie) Hogan (1907– pp., indexed, illustrated. The book con- www.HeritageBooks.com, 800-876-6103; or 2002) of Nashua, N.H. and her Ancestors tains the genealogy and life stories of John the author, [email protected]. from Nashua and Quebec, Canada, James Pittsinger and his sons, John, Jr., William Dunstable, Mass. Francis Hogan (Nashua, N.H.: the author, and Jonathan, and their descendants to Geographic History of Old Dunstable, Mass. 2012). Hardcover, 3-ring binder, 618 pp. 2011. $50, $10 shipping. Available from the And Nashua, N.H. (1673–1975), James Illustrations. A genealogy with biographies author at [email protected]. Francis Hogan (Nashua, N.H.: the author, of seven Lavoies, four Decelles, one Charron, 2012). Hardcover, 3-ring binder. 103 pp. one Grenier, and one Hogan. Includes Theinert/Theunert Illustrations, maps. A presentation of maps an 1860 ancestral chart of Andrea’s fore- Forever Cousins – Eight Generations of the of Old Dunstable, including a 1730s sheep- bears, extending to seventeenth-century Theinert Family, Gail Theinert Harris and skin map, discussion 300 years of changes France. There is an outline descent tree list Rebecca Baker Thomas (Charleston, S.C.: in Old Dunstable, and maps of Nashua. with about 100 names. $42, plus $10.95 CreateSpace, 2012). Softcover, 520 pp., $18, plus $10.95 shipping. Available from shipping. Available from James Hogan, photos, Appendixes, chart. This book doc- James Hogan, 51 Pine Hill Ave., Nashua, 51 Pine Hill Ave., Nashua, NH 03064; uments eight generations of the descen- NH 03064; 603-882-5687. 613-882-5687. dants of Johann Karl Gottlieb Theunert and Johanna Rosalie Mennig, emigrants Marblehead, Mass. Nason from Prussia (1853) to the United States. Marblehead and WW I: At Home and Overseas, Descendants of Abraham and Lydia (Lombard) $26.95. Available from Amazon.com. For Margery A. Armstrong (Charleston, S.C.: Nason of Standish, Maine, Douglas W. Chase more information, please visit www.greener History Press, 2011). Softcover, 141 pp. (Indianapolis, Ind.: Dog Ear Publishing, pasture.com/genes/forever_cousins.asp. Index, bibliography, photographs. The

56 American Ancestors Spring 2012 Submit your book notice Members may submit their relevant books published within the last year. The donation of one copy to the Society is required. Please provide: 1) Surname (genealogies), subject (other books); 2) Title; 3) Author(s)/editor(s)/compiler(s); 4) Place of publication; 5) Publisher/self-published; 6) Year of publication; 7) Hardcover/softcover/other; 8) Page count; 9) Specify if index, illustrations, or appendixes are included; 10) Description in 25 words or less; 11) Contact/ordering information, including email address.

Genealogies in Progress, Family Associations, and DNA Studies in Progress Members may submit notices of 75 words or less. The same notice will be published only once per year. Event notices should be submitted at least six months in advance.

To place your listing, email [email protected]. Book donations may be sent to Family Focus, American Ancestors magazine, NEHGS, 99–101 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116. story of Marblehead, Mass., during WWI, sponsoring gatherings. The Association a male with the surname Cathcart, or any years 1916–1918, from articles and letters welcomes all nationalities and backgrounds. variation thereof, you will be welcomed published in the Marblehead Messenger, and Visit www.ewingfamilyassociation.org. Contact with great joy. For additional information, soldiers’ letters home. $19.99 plus $4 ship- [email protected]. please visit our page at www.familytreedna. ping. Available from Margery A. Armstrong: Delano com/public/cathcart/. [email protected]. The annual Delano Kindred Reunion Crocker Mi’kmaq history will be held September 14–15, 2012, in Join the Crocker surname project. Because Revisiting Anne Marie: How an Amerindian Fairhaven, Mass. For further information the current Family Tree DNA project (fami- Woman of Seventeenth-Century Nova Scotia and please contact Muriel C. Cushing, 605 Via lytreedna.com) has more than 12 different male a DNA Match Redefine “American” Heritage, Tunis Drive, Punta Gorda, FL 33950, 941- Crocker signatures, anyone joining at this Marie Rundquist (West Conshohocken, 505-8404; [email protected], or visit point has a fair chance of finding a match, Penn.: Infinity Publishing, 2012). Softcover, www.delanokindred.us. and therefore someone to help coordinate 138 pp. Photos and references. Follows Sacket-Sackett a family history. Order your Y-DNA test kit the history of a family cut from European The Sackett Family Association’s 2012 now. A 37 marker test is best for identifica- and Amerindian (Mi’kmaq) cloth, from Reunion will be held in Westfield, Mass., tion. 67 markers is best for definition. For their beginnings in Nova Scotia to exile in September 20–22, 2012. Anyone interested questions e-mail [email protected]. Snow Hill, Maryland, following the Grand in this family is invited to attend. Contact English-Inglis-Inglish-Ingles Deportation of 1755. Available from Barnes Debbie Barbee: [email protected], or The English-Inglis-Inglish Y-DNA proj- & Noble and Infinity Publishing. Sharon Powalka: [email protected]. Visit ect welcomes all with this surname and Tennessee, Civil War www.sacketfamily.info for more information. its variants. This surname originated after THM: A Memoir, David McCallie Wyman the Norman Conquest of England when (Bloomington, Ind.: Westbow Press, 2011). The 112th Annual Meeting of the Wyman the distinction between Anglo-Saxons (the Hard/softcover, 164 pp. A candid, personal Family Association will be held Saturday, “English”) and Normans (the “French”) memoir that brings readers back more Sept. 15, 2012, at the Francis Wyman was politically and legally important; it had than 110 years, unveiling the trials and House, Burlington, Mass. The house will many founders. The project has begun to tribulations of one man’s life during the be open on the second Saturday of May identify some of these families — and has Civil War, and the faith that carried him through September; Pamela Wyman already solved at least seven longstanding through. Available from Westbow Press: Skelton, who was born in the house, will genealogical mysteries — but more remains http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/ be on hand to greet visitors. Private house to be discovered. See www.englishdna.com SKU-000189876/THM-A-Memoir.aspx. tours can be arranged with Jonell Kenagy: for more information or contact richardd [email protected]. For further details, [email protected]. or to register for the reunion, contact ginny. Ewing FAMILY [email protected]; 781-326-5295. The Ewing Surname Y-DNA Project aims to discover relationships among persons ASSOCIATIONS with surnames Ewing, Ewen, Ewan, Ewin, McEwan, McEwin and many others. With Ewing DNA STUDIES more than 125 participants, this project of The Ewing Family Association will have the Ewing Family Association seeks addi- its twelfth gathering Sept. 20–23, 2012, at IN PROGRESS tional males with any of these surnames. Gallipolis, Ohio. The Association seeks to Cathcart Information is available at www.ewingfamily discover the history and genealogy of the The Cathcart DNA Project seeks to find association.org/genealogy-and-history/y-dna- surnames Ewing, Ewen, Ewan, McEwan, common heritage through sharing of in- project. Contact project administrator David and the like, publishing the Ewing Family formation and y-DNA testing. If you are Neal Ewing at [email protected]. Journal, conducting a Y-DNA project, and

Spring 2012 American Ancestors 57 New York resources at your fingertips! t Explore statewide resources through NEHGS — the largest genealogical society for New York research, with • extensive library collections • staff genealogists specializing in New York research • major online databases • new articles and books • guided research tours in Albany, New York Must-have New York books Essential New York databases New York State Probate Records • Abstracts of Wills, Admins. and Guardianships in A Genealogist’s Guide to Testate and NY State, 1787–1835 Intestate Records, Second Edition • Abstracts of New York County Wills, 1662–1801 • Albany County Deeds, 1630–1894 Newly updated, this essential guide pro- • Long Island Cemetery Inscriptions, 1652–1910 vides genealogists with the latest tools — and practical advice — for locating New • New Netherland Connections York State probate records from the past • New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 300 years. 7 x 10, 216 pp., softcover, $24.95 • Parents and Witnesses at Baptisms in the Reformed Dutch Church, 1639–1730 The Settlers of the Beekman Patent • Parish Register of All Saints Church, 1824–1862 Dutchess County, New York • Settlers of the Beekman Patent (Dutchess County) Discover more than 1,300 families who settled in the Beek- man Patent—an important crossroads for many early New England families migrating West. 10 vols. now available, sur- Focus on New York names Abbott-Rogers, 6 x 9, 900–1250 pp. per vol., hardcover, This American Ancestors magazine column explores many $85 each. Vols. 1–10 also available on CD, $180 aspects of New York genealogy and history. NEHGS members may read all past Focus on New York col- New York Essays: Resources for umns, and browse our archive, at AmericanAncestors.org/ the Genealogist in New York State American-Ancestors-magazine. Outside New York City This book presents 29 essays about a wide range of genealogical and historical topics, . . . and thousands of compiled from how to obtain vital records in New York State to summaries of settlements. genealogies, manuscripts, and 6 x 9, xiii + 320 pp., softcover, $17.95 source records for all of New York! To order, call NEHGS toll-free at 1-888-296-3447 or visit www.AmericanAncestors.org/store.

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Newbury is a genealogical society intent on the Softcover genealogies: preservation of the history of Old Newbury and John Beach & His Wife Mary * 381 pages $58.50 Joseph Bolles & His Wife Mary * 287 pages 37.50 the pioneer families that created our Yankee com- Richard Booth & Elizabeth Hawley 221 pages 25.00 William Burritt & His Wife Elizabeth, 2 ed.* 186 pages 38.50 munity. If you are descended from a Newbury William Chapel & His Wife Christian* 439 pages 54.50 David Copp & Obedience Topliff 73 pages 20.00 head of household before 1700 you are eligible to Edmund Dolbeare 96 pages 36.60 Thomas Fairchild & His Wives, 2 ed.* 300 pages 46.00 become a member. Philip Groves & Anna Smith 235 pages 47.00 Brothers Adam & John Hurd * 137 pages 37.50 Josiah Root Sr. & His Wife Susannah 256 pages 34.00 For more information visit Robert Seabrook & Alice Goodspeed * 142 pages 34.00 www.sonsanddaughtersofnewbury.org Henry Tomlinson & His Wife Alice, 2 ed. * 351 pages 77.50 John Vibber Sr. & Johanna Williams 181 pages 28.50 John Wickwire Sr. & Mary Tonge* 392 pages 47.50 or write to William Wilcoxson & His Wife Margaret * 593 pages 87.50 * Color photos of tombstones Sons & Daughters Features: Detailed source references Tombstones and inscriptions Extensive biographical information Comprehensive bibliographies Membership Female lines of descent Indexed by people and place Prices include shipping in the USA. Order from: PO BOX 444 E. C. Curtis, 145 Summit Drive, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613 Newburyport, MA 01950-0544 See our website for more details www.genealogycentral.net Contact us at [email protected]

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Board for Certification of Genealogists® ● Box 14291 - Dept. NEA ● Washington, DC 20044 The NYG&B website is the only place We have replaced our website with a brand new one that is easier to use and where you can access enriched with expanded content. the full run of the ✖ Read one of our original guides to using Maps, Newspapers, Repositories and other NYG&B Record online. New York resources. ✖ Choose from dozens of Research Aid articles that have been brought up to date by the original authors. www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org ✖ Scroll through a digital book in the Collections of The NYG&B Society or the WPA’s Historical Records Survey. ✖ Check our New York Family History School NEW IN OUR ELIBRARY: The Female Descendants of Elder calendar for a program in your area. William Brewster, the Mayflower pilgrim, compiled by Miss The NYG&B is the most authoritative source Emma C. Brewster Jones and comprising 7,000 pages. for research on New York families and families with New York connections. Founded in 1869, it is the largest genealogical society in New York and the only one that is state-wide. NYG&B Use the code NYHUB to save $10 when you join.

The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Image: Home page to the new NYG&B website, 36 West 44th Street, 7th floor • New York, NY 10036-8105 www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org [email protected] • 212-755-8532 • www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org About Membership levels NEHGS Research, $79.95: Access to all areas of the AmericanAncestors.org website; access to premium databases such as the Early American Newspapers and 19th Century U.S. Newspapers; subscriptions to American Ancestors and The New England Historical and Genealogical Register; unlimited use of the Research Library (including rare books and manuscripts) in Boston; discounts on research services and sales. Family, $99.95: All benefits listed above for up to three persons in a family living at the same address. Friend, $125: Family membership plus fifteen-minute tutorial/teleconference. Associate, $250: Family membership plus thirty-minute tutorial/ Hours and Closings teleconference. Library hours of operation — Tuesday: 9 a.m.–5 p.m.; Supporter, $500: Associate benefits plus one-year subscription to the Wednesday: 9 a.m.–9 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday: Great Migration Newsletter Online. 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Closed Sunday and Monday. Benefactor, $750: Family membership, plus sixty-minute tutorial/ Holiday closings The library will be closed May 26; teleconference, and one-year subscription to the print version of the Wednesday, July 4; Saturday, Sept. 1; Thursday, Nov. 22; and Great Migration Newsletter. Tuesday, Dec. 25. Patron, $1,500: Family membership plus ninety-minute tutorial/ teleconference, one-year subscription to the print version of the Great Migration Newsletter, and one family gift membership.

contact information Life Membership, $3,000: Individual Member benefits, plus a 3½- hour consultation with a genealogist, a sterling member lapel pin, Call NEHGS a personalized Member Certificate, a one-year subscription to the • Research Library 617-536-5740 print version of the Great Migration Newsletter, a one-year subscrip- • Research Services tion to the Great Migration Newsletter Online. Must be at least 62 Member Services 1-888-296-3447 years of age to be eligible. • Membership Life Benefactor, $6,000: Life Member benefits as described above • Book Store with no age restriction. Tours 1-888-286-3447 All levels above the Family membership carry tax benefits. See our Visit NEHGS online! www.AmericanAncestors.org website, www.AmericanAncestors.org, or contact Member Services at • Join NEHGS or renew your membership 1-888-296-3447 for details. • View directions and parking information For information about institutional and subscription memberships, please for 99–101 Newbury Street contact Member Services. • Shop in the NEHGS online book store • Register for tours and programs • Order research services The NEHGS Cartoon • Research in members-only databases Visit the Great Migration Study Project online! • www.GreatMigration.org Email NEHGS General questions [email protected] Address changes [email protected] Book Store [email protected] Member Services [email protected] American Ancestors [email protected] Online Genealogist [email protected] Register [email protected] Research Services [email protected] Tours [email protected] Volunteering [email protected] Webmaster [email protected]

Visit NEHGS in person! “Sometimes you gotta go ‘old school.’” —NEHGS Facebook friend, Tanya Paro New England Historic Genealogical Society “This was not the first time a ‘wanted’ notice was posted for Great-Grandpa and it 99–101 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116-3007 will not be the last!” — submitted by NEHGS Online Genealogist David Allen Lambert Drawing by Jean Powers, NEHGS.

64 American Ancestors Spring 2012 Learn with NEHGS this year . . . Come Home to New England June 11–16 and August 6–11, 2012 Join NEHGS for this popular week of guided research, one-on-one consultations, lectures, and exclusive %time in our research center. % Salt Lake City Research Tour October 28–November 4, 2012 Let NEHGS experts help you navigate the Family History Library during our thirty-fourth annual tour. Enjoy one-on-one consultations, lectures, and other special events. %

Visit www.AmericanAncestors.org/events, email [email protected], or call 617-226-1226 for more information on all upcoming NEHGS events. New England Historic Genealogical Society Nonprofit Org. 99-101 Newbury Street U.S. Postage Boston, MA 02116-3007 PAID New England Historic Genealogical Society

New and Trace Your Expanded New England Roots Editions! Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research • 5th Edition Edited by Michael J. Leclerc. Learn the ins and outs of New England research and locate public records in repositories, libraries, and genealogical societies across the region. 7 x 10 softcover, 432 pp. $24.95, member price $22.46 What’s new? • Introductory essays for each state • Updated repository information • State and county maps • Lists of parent and daughter towns • Charts, artwork, and photos • Two-color format throughout

New Englanders in the 1600s A Guide to Genealogical Research Published Between 1980 and 2010 • Expanded Edition By Martin E. Hollick. Find more early New Englanders than ever before! 6 x 9 softcover, 300 pp. $21.95, member price $19.76 What’s new? • Resources published between 2006 and 2010 • More works published between 1980 and 2005 • Listings for several additional families

Order at www.AmericanAncestors.org or call NEHGS Sales at 1-888-296-3447